How can I hide the extension of my image? - php

Question

I have a link in my localhost, which points to a jpg image. I want to keep using that same link, but I want to eventually replace the image with a word file. Or a pdf file. Or a gif file. Or any other extension that isn't a jpg image.
(Trust me, it makes sense in context, but the context is not important to the question, so I'll leave it out.)
How can I create a link to those files without having the file extension at the end? I could create a php page and have the image (or another file type) embedded there, but one requirement that I have is that the url needs to be the same as the image url. So specifically for jpg, png and gif files only (don't worry about other file types), I want to be able to right click it when I view it with my browser, go to "Copy image address" and get the same exact link as in the address bar of my browser, as if I'm viewing a regular image.
Is something like that possible?
To reiterate:
- I need to generate a link that can be any file type
- If the link points to a file that is an image (jpg, png, gif), the link you get from "Copy image address" should be the same as the link you're using to view it in your browser
Example:
This is the image I have saved on my PC:
C:\xampp\htdocs\my_projects\my_image.jpg
I can view it directly in my browser using this link:
localhost/my_projects/my_image.jpg
What I really want, however, is something like this:
localhost/my_projects/my_image
So I could replace the original jpg file with a png file for example:
C:\xampp\htdocs\my_projects\my_image.png
And, after editing whatever file is responsible in generating "localhost/my_projects/my_image" to point to the png image instead of the jpg image, I can still use the same link as before and get the png image this time:
localhost/my_projects/my_image
What is important to me is the following:
Hopefully this will make my question more clear.

Answer 1

If you know the directory or location of the file.
You can fetch file name with it's extension. you don't need to give file name in front-end.
$directory = 'folder';
if($handle = opendir($directory.'/')){
echo 'looking inside \''.$directory.'\':<br>';
while($file = readdir($handle)){
if($file!='.'&&$file!='..'){
echo ''.$file.'<br>';
}
}
}
either list them or download them.

Answer 2

You need to Rewrite Rules.
Create a .htaccess file in your directory.
Then add this code inside your .htaccess file:
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}.png-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !/$
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ $1\.png
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}.jpg-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !/$
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ $1\.jpg
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}.gif-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !/$
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ $1\.gif
I hope this helps.