file_exists() not working in php5 inside while loop - php

Question

file_exists isn't working. I've looked at a few examples and still no go. Program does not detect the file. The path of my file is /var/www/osbs/PHPAPI/recording.mp3 and the website root is inside osbs. The location of this file is inside PHPAPI that is why I do not put full path in file_put_contents. The program is able to make the original recording.mp3 but not any appended versions of it.
<?php
$actual_name = pathinfo("PHPAPI/recording.mp3",PATHINFO_FILENAME);
$original_name = $actual_name;
$extension = pathinfo("PHPAPI/recording.mp3",PATHINFO_EXTENSION);
if ($_GET["RecordingUrl"]) {
if (file_exists("/var/www/osbs/PHPAPI/".$actual_name.".".$extension)) {
$actual_name = find_new_name($original_name, $extension);
}
else {
$actual_name = $original_name;
}
$name = $actual_name.".".$extension;
file_put_contents($name, file_get_contents($_GET["RecordingUrl"]));
}
function find_new_name ( $file, $extension ) {
$name = $file.".".$extension;
$i = 0;
while(file_exists("/var/www/osbs/PHPAPI/".$name)){
$new_name = $file.$i;
$name = $new_name.".".$extension;
$i++;
}
return $new_name;
}
?>

Answer 1

Your issue is with the file_put_contents. You need to specify a full path, and you only specify a file name. Try echoing $name just before using it, you'll see it's not a path, just a filename.
I would recommend you to set a constant at the begining of the file with the path instead of sometimes relying on relative paths and sometimes relying on absolute paths.
<?php
const SAVE_PATH = "/var/www/osbs/";
$actual_name = pathinfo(SAVE_PATH."PHPAPI/recording.mp3",PATHINFO_FILENAME);
$original_name = $actual_name;
$extension = pathinfo(SAVE_PATH."PHPAPI/recording.mp3",PATHINFO_EXTENSION);
if (isset($_GET["RecordingUrl"]) && $_GET["RecordingUrl"]) {
if (file_exists(SAVE_PATH."PHPAPI/".$actual_name.".".$extension)) {
$actual_name = find_new_name($original_name, $extension);
}
else {
$actual_name = $original_name;
}
$name = $actual_name.".".$extension;
file_put_contents(SAVE_PATH.'PHPAPI/'.$name, file_get_contents($_GET["RecordingUrl"]));
}
function find_new_name ( $file, $extension ) {
$name = $file.".".$extension;
$i = 0;
while(file_exists(SAVE_PATH."PHPAPI/".$name)){
$new_name = $file.$i;
$name = $new_name.".".$extension;
$i++;
}
return $new_name;
}
?>
What I changed:
Defined a const SAVE_PATH = "/var/www/osbs/";
Use the new constant everywhere. No more relative sometimes and absolute sometimes, it's all absolute.
Used the constant in file_put_contents (THIS IS THE ACTUAL FIX, YOU NEED A FULL PATH HERE)
Added an additional check to make sure RecordingUrl isset, otherwise you get a PHP warning when it's not set.

Answer 2

The problem seems to be in the first line of your script:
$actual_name = pathinfo("PHPAPI/recording.mp3", PATHINFO_FILENAME);
This will assign recording.mp3 to $actual_filename. You are then checking for recording.mp3.mp3 by concatenating the extension to the filename. I think you want to use PATHINFO_BASENAME which will return the filename sans extension.

Answer 3

Are you sure about the path? /PHPAPI looks for the file inside /PHPAPI, not the expected /var/www/osbs/PHPAPI/. You should check for PHPAPI/$filename instead.

Answer 4

You have to put your all logical in the find_new_name() function. That would made your code clearer
if ($_GET["RecordingUrl"]) {
$name = find_new_name("PHPAPI/recording.mp3");
file_put_contents($name, file_get_contents($_GET["RecordingUrl"]));
}
function find_new_name($name) {
$info = pathinfo($name);
$name = $info['basename'];
$i = 0;
while (file_exists("$info[dirname]/$name")) {
$name = sprintf('%s%d.%s', $info['filename'], ++$i, $info['extension']);
}
return "$info[dirname]/$name";
}

Answer 5

You forgot the path with the file_put_contents().
It should be:
file_put_contents("PHPAPI/".$name, file_get_contents($_GET["RecordingUrl"]));
Or:
file_put_contents("/var/www/osbs/PHPAPI/".$name, file_get_contents($_GET["RecordingUrl"]));

Answer 6

You are confused between URL of a file and its PATH
Your httdoc(or public_html ) root is /var/www/osbs/PHPAPI
But Your filesystem root is '/'
Try
file_put_contents( __DIR__.'/'.$name, file_get_contents($_GET["RecordingUrl"]));
there are lots of bad practices in your code

Answer 7

'file_exists' and a few other file calls like fstat are cached by php. This is documented in the manual for file_exists. Your first call when the file does not exists is saved and returned in subsequent calls. Use 'clearstatcache()' between calls to clear the cache.

Answer 8

A "little" refactoring:
Absolute path everywhere
Transparent function, more self-explanatory name, simpler use of argument
Protection against malicious input ($_POST really doesn't cut it)
Why file_put_contents() when you want to actually copy()
<?php
define("SRC_PATH", "/var/www/osbs/whereverYourSrcIs/");
define("SAVE_PATH", "/var/www/osbs/PHPAPI/");
function findAvailableName($name) {
$i = 1;
$pathinfo = pathinfo($name);
while(file_exists($name)) {
$name = $pathinfo['dirname'] . '/' . $pathinfo['filename'] . "." . $i++ . "." . $pathinfo['extension'];
}
return $name;
}
if (isset($_GET["RecordingUrl"]) && $_GET["RecordingUrl"]) {
if (strpos('/' . $_GET['RecordingUrl'] . '/', '/../') !== false) {
die("invalid input, don't be evil");
}
copy(SRC_PATH . $_GET["RecordingUrl"], findAvailableName(SAVE_PATH . "recording.mp3"));
}