Sort alphabetically with opendir() - php

Question

I'm quite new to PHP so I'm still learning the very basics, however I'm trying to create an image gallery.
After countless Google searches later, I found a PHP script that does what I want it to do, and after looking at the code and manipulating it slightly it was working perfectly with my site; except that the images were not in alphabetical order.
This is the code
$max_width = 100;
$max_height = 100;
$imagedir = 'gifs/animals/'; //Remember trailing slash
function getPictureType($ext) {
if ( preg_match('/jpg|jpeg/i', $ext) ) {
return 'jpg';
} else if ( preg_match('/png/i', $ext) ) {
return 'png';
} else if ( preg_match('/gif/i', $ext) ) {
return 'gif';
} else {
return '';
}
}
function getPictures() {
global $max_width, $max_height, $imagedir;
if ( $handle = opendir($imagedir) ) {
$lightbox = rand();
echo '<ul id="pictures">';
while ( ($file = readdir($handle)) !== false ) {
if ( !is_dir($file) ) {
$split = explode($imagedir, $file);
$ext = $split[count($split) - 1];
if ( ($type = getPictureType($ext)) == '' ) {
continue;
}
$name = substr($file, 0, -4);
$title = str_replace("_"," ",$name);
echo '<li><a href="'.$name.'">';
echo '<img src="thumbs/'.$file.'" class="pictures" alt="'.$file.'" />';
echo '</a>';
echo ''.$title.'';
echo '</li>';
}
}
echo '</ul>';
}
}
I've used the scandir() function which works in sorting them alphabetically, however I was left with an array. I then used the implode function to join the array together, however after that I was stuck with what to do.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Cheers.

Answer 1

You can use glob() to get the files from a directory, sorted alphabetically:
$files = glob('gifs/animals/*.{gif,jpg,png}', GLOB_BRACE);
To iterate over your files, use a foreach loop:
foreach($files as $file){
$title = str_replace("_"," ",$file);
echo '<li><a href="'.$name.'">';
echo '<img src="thumbs/'.basename($file).'" class="pictures" alt="'.basename($file).'" />';
echo '</a>';
echo ''.$title.'';
echo '</li>';
}

Answer 2

What's wrong with the arrays?
Also it would be better if you use pathinfo to obtain the filename and the extension.
$max_width = 100;
$max_height = 100;
$imagedir = 'gifs/animals/'; //Remember trailing slash
function getPictureType($ext) {
if ( preg_match('/jpg|jpeg/i', $ext) ) {
return 'jpg';
} else if ( preg_match('/png/i', $ext) ) {
return 'png';
} else if ( preg_match('/gif/i', $ext) ) {
return 'gif';
} else {
return '';
}
}
function getPictures() {
global $max_width, $max_height, $imagedir;
if ( $files = scandir($imagedir) ) {
$lightbox = rand();
echo '<ul id="pictures">';
foreach ($files as $file) {
$full_path = $imagedir.'/'.$file;
if ( !is_dir($file) ) {
$finfo = pathinfo($full_path);
$ext = $finfo['extension'];
if ( ($type = getPictureType($ext)) == '' ) {
continue;
}
$name = $finfo['filename'];
$title = str_replace("_"," ",$name);
echo '<li><a href="'.$name.'">';
echo '<img src="thumbs/'.$file.'" class="pictures" alt="'.$file.'" />';
echo '</a>';
echo ''.$title.'';
echo '</li>';
}
}
echo '</ul>';
}
}