How to hide directory while giving directory Link? - php

Question

I have build a laravel application where I have some files on public/files directory. if I give this link to others such as download Link, they have chance to know my directory ..
Suppose the link i have to give download link as
www.abc.com/files/45454553535.zip
But i don't want to let Users know that it's there in files directory. So How Do i hide the directory?

Answer 1

Keep your files in the storage directory. That way you can serve the file to the users through code.
Try to follow the documentation: https://laravel.com/docs/5.4/filesystem

Answer 2

I don't know whether this would work or not but giving you an idea. Create a php file use like this:
header('Content-Type: application/zip');
$a=file_get_contents(file.zip)
echo $a;
From this user will not know from where the contents are fetched.

Answer 3

Try this.
public function getDownload()
{
$filename='45454553535.zip'
$file= public_path(). "/files/".$filename;
$headers = array(
'Content-Type: application/zip',
);
return Response::download($file, $filename, $headers);
}
".files/45454553535.zip"will not work as you have to give full physical path.
Update 20/05/2016
Laravel 5, 5.1, 5.2 or 5.* users can use the following method instead of Response facade. However, my previous answer will work for both Laravel 4 or 5.
return response()->download($file, $filename, $headers);

Answer 4

You can just create a your controller and route.
Route::get('files/{filename}', [
'as' => 'file.get',
'uses' => 'FileController#get',
]);
Controller should check your proper directory. Try to keep your files in storage path, not public.
class FileController extends Controller
{
private $path;
public function __construct()
{
$path = storage_path()
. '/your-valid-directory/';
}
public function get($filename)
{
$file_path = $this->path
. filter_var($filename, FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING);
if (file_exists($file_path) && is_readable($file_path)) {
return response(file_get_contents($file_path), 200, [
'Content-Type: application/zip',
]);
} else {
abort(404);
}
}
}
Now you can get access to specific file by:
{{ route('file.get', ['filename' => '45454553535.zip') }}
This action generate link looks like: your-domain.com/files/45454553535.zip. :)
Anyway in my opinion - in the future just make file factory with specific headers, directories.
Good luck!