compress/archive folder using php script - php

Question

Is there a way to compress/archive a folder in the server using php script to .zip or .rar or to any other compressed format, so that on request we could archive the folder and then give the download link
Thanks in advance

Answer 1

Here is an example:
<?php
// Adding files to a .zip file, no zip file exists it creates a new ZIP file
// increase script timeout value
ini_set('max_execution_time', 5000);
// create object
$zip = new ZipArchive();
// open archive
if ($zip->open('my-archive.zip', ZIPARCHIVE::CREATE) !== TRUE) {
die ("Could not open archive");
}
// initialize an iterator
// pass it the directory to be processed
$iterator = new RecursiveIteratorIterator(new RecursiveDirectoryIterator("themes/"));
// iterate over the directory
// add each file found to the archive
foreach ($iterator as $key=>$value) {
$zip->addFile(realpath($key), $key) or die ("ERROR: Could not add file: $key");
}
// close and save archive
$zip->close();
echo "Archive created successfully.";
?>

Answer 2

Beware of a possible problem in Adnan's example: If the target myarchive.zip is inside the the source folder, then you need to exclude it in the loop, or to run the iterator before creating the archive file (if it doesn't exist already). Here's a revised script that uses the latter option, and adds some config vars up top. This one shouldn't be used to add to an existing archive.
<?php
// Config Vars
$sourcefolder = "./" ; // Default: "./"
$zipfilename = "myarchive.zip"; // Default: "myarchive.zip"
$timeout = 5000 ; // Default: 5000
// instantate an iterator (before creating the zip archive, just
// in case the zip file is created inside the source folder)
// and traverse the directory to get the file list.
$dirlist = new RecursiveDirectoryIterator($sourcefolder);
$filelist = new RecursiveIteratorIterator($dirlist);
// set script timeout value
ini_set('max_execution_time', $timeout);
// instantate object
$zip = new ZipArchive();
// create and open the archive
if ($zip->open("$zipfilename", ZipArchive::CREATE) !== TRUE) {
die ("Could not open archive");
}
// add each file in the file list to the archive
foreach ($filelist as $key=>$value) {
$zip->addFile(realpath($key), $key) or die ("ERROR: Could not add file: $key");
}
// close the archive
$zip->close();
echo "Archive ". $zipfilename . " created successfully.";
// And provide download link ?>
<a href="http:<?php echo $zipfilename;?>" target="_blank">
Download <?php echo $zipfilename?></a>

Answer 3

PHP comes with the ZipArchive extension, which is just right for you.