Issues with Uploading Multiple files with PHP - php

Question

I can see this question has been asked a million times before. I have been through many of the responses and can't seem to get it right:-
I am simply trying to upload multiple files. I'm certain that the form is correct. The issue I get is that if I use a foreach loop, PHP cycles through 5 times (I guess once for each key in $_FILES).
I have read that you should count the uploaded files in the $_FILE['file_upload'] array, then use a for loop, and include an index on the end, such as:-
$_FILES['file_upload']['name'][$1]
however, when I try to access those values I only get the first letter of the value (I think I understand why this is).
The only thing I can think is to use
for($i ; $i<$size ; $i++){...}
and then nest a foreach loop inside it, however, this seems inefficient and I've seen no other suggestions to this end.
I would therefore be eternally grateful if someone could set me straight once and for all. My code is here:-
foreach ($_FILES['file_upload'] as $key => $value){
$tmp_file = $_FILES['file_upload']['tmp_name'];
$target_file = basename($_FILES['file_upload']['name']);
if(move_uploaded_file($tmp_file,$upload_location."/".$target_file)){
$message = "File uploaded successfully";
} else {
$error = $_FILES['file_upload']['error']; // get the error
$_SESSION['errors'][] = $error_msg[$error];// return the error that matches
}// end if
} // end for
So just to clarify - The above code works and uploads the image, but where the loop cycles through 5 times (I'm assuming once per $_FILES attribute), I am getting 5 error messages.I hope this makes sense.
Many thanks in advance for any pointers
Phill

Answer 1

The following was taken from: PHP Manual
<?php
$uploads_dir = '/uploads';
foreach ($_FILES["pictures"]["error"] as $key => $error) {
if ($error == UPLOAD_ERR_OK) {
$tmp_name = $_FILES["pictures"]["tmp_name"][$key];
$name = $_FILES["pictures"]["name"][$key];
move_uploaded_file($tmp_name, "$uploads_dir/$name");
}
}
?>
Which in turn you should be able to modify to something like this:
<?php
$uploads_dir = '/uploads';
foreach ($_FILES["file_upload"]["error"] as $key => $error) {
if ($error == UPLOAD_ERR_OK) {
$tmp_name = $_FILES["file_upload"]["tmp_name"][$key];
$name = $_FILES["file_upload"]["name"][$key];
move_uploaded_file($tmp_name, "$uploads_dir/$name");
}
}
?>

Answer 2

change your foreach to this
foreach ($_FILES['file_upload']['tmp_name'] as $key => $value){
$tmp_file = $_FILES['file_upload']['tmp_name'][$key];
$target_file = basename($_FILES['file_upload']['name'][$key]);
if(move_uploaded_file($tmp_file,$upload_location."/".$target_file)){
$message = "File uploaded successfully";
} else {
$error = $_FILES['file_upload']['error'][$key]; // get the error
$_SESSION['errors'][] = $error_msg[$error];// return the error that matches
}// end if
} // end for

Answer 3

I dont think I understand you completely. If you are uploading multiple files, you should use foreach (no counter required).
The only counter you should use is to count the numbers of files that were successfuly uploaded.
Try this:
$success = 0;
foreach ($_FILES['files']['name'] as $file => $name){
$tmp_file = $_FILES["files"]["tmp_name"][$file];
$target_file = $name;
if(move_uploaded_file($tmp_file,$upload_location."/".$target_file)){
$message = "File uploaded successfully";
$success++;
} else {
$error = $_FILES['file_upload']['error']; // get the error
$_SESSION['errors'][] = $error_msg[$error];// return the error that matches
}// end if
} // end for
echo $success.' files were uploaded';