how to delete a file from folder in php - php

Question

I have a folder 'items' in which there are 3 files item1.txt, item2.txt and item3.txt.
I want to delete item2.txt file from folder. I am using the below code but it not deleting a file from folder. Can any body help me in that.
<?php
$data="item2.txt";
$dir = "items";
$dirHandle = opendir($dir);
while ($file = readdir($dirHandle)) {
if($file==$data) {
unlink($file);
}
}
closedir($dirHandle);
?>

Answer 1

Initially the folder should have 777 permissions
$data = "item2.txt";
$dir = "items";
while ($file = readdir($dirHandle)) {
if ($file==$data) {
unlink($dir.'/'.$file);
}
}
or try
$path = $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'].'items/item2.txt';
unlink($path);

Answer 2

No need of while loop here for just deleting a file, you have to pass path of that file to unlink() function, as shown below.
$file_to_delete = 'items/item2.txt';
unlink($file_to_delete);
Please read details of unlink() function
http://php.net/manual/en/function.unlink.php

Answer 3

There is one bug in your code, you haven't given the correct path
<?php
$data="item2.txt";
$dir = "items";
$dirHandle = opendir($dir);
while ($file = readdir($dirHandle)) {
if($file==$data) {
unlink($dir."/".$file);//give correct path,
}
}
closedir($dirHandle);
?>
unlink

Answer 4

if($file==$data) {
unlink( $dir .'/'. $file);
}

Answer 5

It's very simple:
$file='a.txt';
if(unlink($file))
{
echo "file named $file has been deleted successfully";
}
else
{
echo "file is not deleted";
}
//if file is in other folder then do as follows
unlink("foldername/".$file);

Answer 6

try renaming it to the trash or a temp folder that the server have access **UNLESS IT'S sensitive data.
rename($old, $new) or die("Unable to rename $old to $new.");