PHP mkdir doesn't make new directories - php

Question

I'm trying to make a new directory to handle profile pictures, but every time I upload the image, nothing happens as in the new directory is not created and there are no errors whatsoever. I already checked the Apache error log, but didn't notice any error pertaining to my recent code...
Here's a sample of my code
//profile image upload script
if (isset($_FILES['profile_pics'])) {
if (((#$_FILES["profile_pics"] ["type"] == "image/jpeg" || (#$_FILES["profile_pics"] ["type"] == "image/png") || (#$_FILES["profile_pics"] ["type"] == "image/gif")) && (#$_FILES["profile_pics"] ["size"] < 1048576)) ) // LESS THAN ONE MEGABYTE
{
$chars = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ1234567890";
$rand_dir_name = substr(str_shuffle($chars), 0, 15);
mkdir("userdata/profile_pics/$rand_dir_name");
else {
}
}
}

Answer 1

You have multiple errors in your PHP, are you sure you did not see any FATAL errors in your apache logs?
Your if query does not close properly
Your else statement is missing a braket
You're suppressing any errors with # - remove them!
Use an absolute path instead of relative path to avoid errors in where you're creating the directory
Here's an example of how it should look:
// array of valid image types
$valid = array( 'image/jpeg', 'image/png', 'image/gif' );
if (isset($_FILES['profile_pics'])) {
// if the file type is in the valid array and the size is less than 1MB
if ( in_array($_FILES['profile_pics']['type'], $valid)
&& ($_FILES["profile_pics"]["size"] < 1048576) )
{
$chars = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ1234567890";
$rand_dir_name = substr(str_shuffle($chars), 0, 15);
mkdir($_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . "/userdata/profile_pics/$rand_dir_name");
} else {
print( 'too big or not an image.' );
}
}
EDIT
You should also check the mkdir response.. like this:
$ok = mkdir($_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . "/userdata/profile_pics/$rand_dir_name");
if( !$ok )
{
print('error creating directory, check your permissions');
} else {
print('created directory successfully!');
}

Answer 2

Try to add permission.
mkdir("/path/", 0755);