Unable to move_uploaded_file when adding user avatars - php

Question

Back again with another newbie question. I've been working on a document that will allow users to upload their own avatars to a blog that I'm creating to learn some PHP. I've been working on this document for two days now and I've spent over six hours of searching and trying different things to fix it but I just can't get it to get past this:
if(move_uploaded_file($_FILES['avatar']['name'], $target)){
//good message
echo "Your avatar was successfully uploaded.";
}else{
//bad message
echo "Your avatar couldnt be uploaded, please contact an admin.";
}
It does send the "bad message" finally after about an hour of trying different solutions but I'm not quite sure why it is giving me the "bad message", to me everything looks okay.
FULL CODE:
<?php
session_start();
if (isset($_SESSION['username'])){
if (isset($_POST['submit']) && isset($_FILES['avatar'])) {
$con = mysql_connect("localhost","root","");
if (!$con){
die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
}
mysql_select_db('webserver', $con);
$username = $_SESSION['username'];
$query = "SELECT * FROM users WHERE username = '$username'";
$result = mysql_query($query);
$row = mysql_fetch_array($result);
$id = $row['id'];
//Directory to save stuff
$target = "images/useravatars";
$target = $target . basename($_FILES['avatar']['tmp_name']);
//Save the avatar
if(move_uploaded_file($_FILES['avatar']['name'], $target)){
//good message
echo "Your avatar was successfully uploaded.";
}else{
//bad message
echo "Your avatar couldnt be uploaded, please contact an admin.";
}
}else{
echo "38";
}
}
?>
<form enctype="multipart/form-data" action='uploadavatar.php' method='POST'>
<table>
<tr>
<td>
Upload an avatar:
</td>
</tr>
<td>
<input type='file' name='avatar'>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<p>
<input enctype='multipart/form-data' type='submit' name='submit' value='Submit'>
</p>
</form>
By the way I'm sorry there is probably a bunch of useless code in there, I have spent a bunch of time just getting it far enough to give me an error.

Answer 1

The location where the uploaded file is stored on disk is $_FILES['avatar']['tmp_name']. You want to move that, not $_FILES['avatar']['name'].

Answer 2

The problem here is that, you're using move_uploaded_file() in wrong way.
The first parameter requires a filename with its extension, without base path, like
mypic.jpg. The second requires a destination where that file should be uploaded.
As for your code,
Replace this,
//Directory to save stuff
$target = "images/useravatars";
$target = $target . basename($_FILES['avatar']['tmp_name']);
//Save the avatar
if(move_uploaded_file($_FILES['avatar']['temp'], $target)){
with
// I'd assume that dirname(__FILE__) refers to your root
//Directory to save stuff
$destination = sprintf('%s/images/useravatars/%s', dirname(__FILE__), $_FILES['avatar']['name']);
//Save the avatar
if (move_uploaded_file($_FILES['avatar']['tmp_name'], $destination)) {