PHP file_exists returns true on nonexistent file

Question

I have the following code snippet:

<?
include("/classes/functions.php");
if(!file_exists("/config.ini")) redirect("/classes/install.php");
else{
    //file is processed
}
?>

What this is supposed to do is to read data from a configuration file then use it to connect to a MySQL server. If the configuration file doesn't exist, it redirects to a setup page where the file is created and filled with user-provided data.

Problem is, even though the file doesn't exist, file_exists returns true anyway, which causes the else branch to run and fail all over the place.

I tried using $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] in the file path, just in case; no difference.

Maybe you can use the full path to the file, like /home/user/domains/htdocs/ — Perry
– Perry, Commented Jul 26, 2016 at 18:48
If you use a IDE which can debug with breakpoints, try set one right before and step through the code. — Jite
– Jite, Commented Jul 26, 2016 at 18:54
This code runs right when the page is displayed. I found a processing problem in an echo command a few lines below, still in the else branch: if the server couldn't be reached, a yes/no popup is displayed and the page is redirected on an affirmative. However, the echo command that generates this JS popup breaks and belches out everything after the opening JS script tag's > as plaintext. If this script is allowed to run as is, the redirection is successful - but the redirection in the if branch does NOT work despite using the exact same code. So the problem is definitely file_exists. — amitakartok
– amitakartok, Commented Jul 26, 2016 at 19:17
I think I figured out what's wrong. I put echos in both the if and the else branch to see which way the script is going. Neither ran. Which means that the script is not running whatsoever. — amitakartok
– amitakartok, Commented Jul 26, 2016 at 19:33

Alex · Accepted Answer · 2016-07-26 20:33:01Z

9

Documentation: http://php.net/manual/en/function.file-exists.php

Returns TRUE if the file or directory specified by filename exists;

file_exists('/non-existing-file.ini') returns true because path '/' exists

use is_file() instead

answered Jul 26, 2016 at 20:33

Alex

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2 Comments

Robert Sinclair Over a year ago

that's incorrect, running if(file_exists("folder/file.php")) { return true;} will return true if folder/file.php is there but if(file_exists("folder/WRONG.php")) { return true;} does not return true. Eventhough "folder" IS there. Just ran this short test on my side. Unless i'm missing something.. Could be a clearstatcache() issue since file_exists caches results

Alex Over a year ago

indeed, it seems I got fooled by the cache. Anyway, I recommend is_file because generated file name can be empty and file_exists is tricky in this case: file_exists('/path/to/'.generated())

amitakartok · Accepted Answer · 2016-07-26 19:45:41Z

0

Found the source of the problem. For whoever might stumble upon this in the future, the Apache that comes with XAMPP doesn't execute PHP code if it's prefixed with <? instead of <?php.

answered Jul 26, 2016 at 19:45

amitakartok

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Comments

Anas Zilali · Accepted Answer · 2016-07-26 19:04:48Z

-1

the probleme is in the redirect() function . there is no redirect in php use this code

<?
include("/classes/functions.php");
if(!file_exists("/config.ini")){
 header("Location: /classes/install.php");
}else{
    //file is processed
}
?>

edited Jul 26, 2016 at 19:04

answered Jul 26, 2016 at 18:57

Anas Zilali

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2 Comments

ArtisticPhoenix Over a year ago

could have a function named that, and you have a quote issue on header

amitakartok Over a year ago

I indeed have a redirect() function, found in the included file. It merely generates a JS window.location.

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