Deleting file from folder - php

Question

I'm not quite sure where the problem lies.
But the code won't unlink the file :(
<?php include_once("sessions.php");
require_once("connect.php");
if(isset($_POST['delete'])){
$album_id = $_SESSION['album_id'];
$checkbox = $_POST['photo_checkbox'];
$count = count($checkbox);
for($i = 0; $i < $count; $i++) {
$id = (int) $checkbox[$i]; // Parse your value to integer
if ($id > 0) { // and check if it's bigger then 0
$query = "SELECT * FROM media WHERE id = $id";
$result = mysqli_query($connection, $query);
while($row = mysqli_fetch_array($result)){
$file = $row['path'];
if(!unlink($file)){
$_SESSION["edit_message"] = "<br>Something went wrong while deleting shit ... please try your editing again." .$file;
header ("Location: ../fotos.php?album=".$album_id."");
exit;
}
}
$query = "DELETE FROM media WHERE id = $id";
$result = mysqli_query($connection, $query);
}
}
if($result){
$_SESSION["edit_message"] = "<br>Successfully deleted !";
header ("Location: ../fotos.php?album=".$album_id."");
exit;}
}
?>
If I take out the unlink loop part and just go straight to the deleting from the db it works fine.
What am I missing?
Might it be the permissions that are hindering the code from executing ?
EDIT :
Changed the permissions of the file to 0777 now. So it should really work ...
But still doesn't seem to. ! :/
I have no ideas now.
Maybe the loop isn't working properly ?
Thanx for your help
Cheers
Chris

Answer 1

$file2 = chmod($file, 0777);
if(!unlink($file2)){
$file2 is getting the return value of chmod, which is a bool. You're then trying to unlink a true/false value. Perhaps you meant to unlink($file) ?
Edit to reflect your changes:
If $file is not a fully qualified path name $file will be relative to the current working directory of where ever the script is running from. Ensure $file is a full path name.

Answer 2

Write permissions on the file are not sufficient you need write permissions on the directory itself to be able to delete a file within it.
You should first check the file exists, you should then check that you have the correct permissions on the directory NOT the file.
if(file_exists($file) && is_writeable(dirname($file))){
unlink($file);
}else{
//invalid path or permission problems
}