How to delete file in PHP - php

Question

I want to delete files in a specific directory in PHP. How can I achieve this?
I have the following code but it does not delete the files.
$files = array();
$dir = dir('files');
while ($file = $dir->read()) {
if ($file != '.' && $file != '..') {
$files[] = $file;
}
unlink($file);
}

Answer 1

I think your question isn't specific, this code must clear all files in the directory 'files'.
But there are some errors in that code I think, and here is the right code:
$files= array();
$dir = dir('files');
while (($file = $dir->read()) !== false) { // You must supply a condition to avoid infinite looping
if ($file != '.' && $file != '..') {
$files[] = $file; // In this array you push the valid files in the provided directory, which are not (. , ..)
}
unlink('files/'.$file); // This must remove the file in the queue
}
And finally make sure that you provided the right path to dir().

Answer 2

You can get all directory contents with glob and check if the value is a file with is_file() before unlinking it.
$files = glob('files/*'); // get directory contents
foreach ($files as $file) { // iterate files
// Check if file
if (is_file($file)) {
unlink($file); // delete file
}
}
If you want to remove files matching a pattern like .png or .jpg, you have to use
$files = glob('/tmp/*.{png,jpg}', GLOB_BRACE);
See manual for glob.