Parse Directory Structure (Strings) to JSON using PHP

Question

I have an array of file-path strings like this

videos/funny/jelloman.wmv
videos/funny/bellydance.flv
videos/abc.mp4
videos/june.mp4
videos/cleaver.mp4
audio/uptown.mp3
audio/juicy.mp3
fun.wmv
jimmy.wmv
herman.wmv

End goal is to get them to jsTree. I built a prototype tree from the above sample strings. check it out: http://jsfiddle.net/ecropolis/pAqas/

You should fix up the formatting... Paste all the code then use the {} button to get the indentations right. (Or indent everything 4 spaces). — Jacob
– Jacob, Commented Feb 13, 2011 at 23:12
The folder 'funny' is nested inside of the folder 'videos' I just nested one level but could keep going. I never can seem to figure out the fomatting! sorry. — Ecropolis
– Ecropolis, Commented Feb 14, 2011 at 0:36

RobertPitt · Accepted Answer · 2011-02-13 23:31:35Z

16

Firstly I would create a recursive function to iterate through your directory into an array

function ReadFolderDirectory($dir,$listDir= array())
{
    $listDir = array();
    if($handler = opendir($dir))
    {
        while (($sub = readdir($handler)) !== FALSE)
        {
            if ($sub != "." && $sub != ".." && $sub != "Thumb.db")
            {
                if(is_file($dir."/".$sub))
                {
                    $listDir[] = $sub;
                }elseif(is_dir($dir."/".$sub))
                {
                    $listDir[$sub] = $this->ReadFolderDirectory($dir."/".$sub); 
                } 
            } 
        }    
        closedir($handler); 
    } 
    return $listDir;    
}

and then output the array with json_encode.

Source used from: http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.readdir.php#87733

answered Feb 13, 2011 at 23:31

RobertPitt

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3 Comments

Ecropolis Over a year ago

I have the filenames above as strings in an array. Since I'm not reading an actual directory with PHP I don't have access to functions like is_file maybe that's all I really need to get around. In my case if I split on '/' the file is the last element of the exploded string to array. (The file strings are coming from a query to Amazon S3)

YahyaE Over a year ago

@RobertPitt Trying to achieve similar result with RecursiveIterator. Thanks for any help in stackoverflow.com/questions/24121723/…

Ruvenss Over a year ago

This throws an error PHP Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Using $this when not in object context

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 10:29:40Z

I was able to use this excellent solution (the bottom one posted by @Casablanca) to process the above strings into a recursive array structure. Convert array of paths into UL list

<?php
    $paths = array('videos/funny/jelloman.wmv','videos/funny/bellydance.flv','videos/abc.mp4','videos/june.mp4','videos/cleaver.mp4','audio/uptown.mp3','audio/juicy.mp3','fun.wmv', 'jimmy.wmv','herman.wmv');
    sort($paths); 
    $array = array();
    foreach ($paths as $path) {
      $path = trim($path, '/');
      $list = explode('/', $path);
      $n = count($list);

      $arrayRef = &$array; // start from the root
      for ($i = 0; $i < $n; $i++) {
        $key = $list[$i];
        $arrayRef = &$arrayRef[$key]; // index into the next level
      }
    }

    function buildUL($array, $prefix,$firstrun) {     
        $c = count($array);
      foreach ($array as $key => $value) {
            $path_parts = pathinfo($key);
            if($path_parts['extension'] != '') {
                $extension = $path_parts['extension'];
            } else {
                $extension = 'folder';
            }
            if ($prefix == '') { //its a folder
                echo ' { "data":"'.$key.'"';
            } else { //its a file
                echo '{"data" : {"title":"'.$key.'"},"attr":{"href": "'.$prefix.$key.'","id": "1239"},
                "icon": "images\/'.$extension.'-icon.gif"';
            }
            // if the value is another array, recursively build the list$key
            if (is_array($value)) {
                echo ',"children" : [ ';
                buildUL($value, "$prefix$key/",false);
            }
            echo "}";
            $c = $c-1;
            if($c != 0) {
                echo ",";
            }
      } //end foreach
     if($firstrun != true) 
      echo "]";
    }

    echo '{ "data" : [';
    buildUL($array, '',true);
    echo '] }';
?>

I have down-voted you for trying to manually create a json object using nothing but concatenation, please refer to the complexity json_encode actually provides

janson0 · Accepted Answer · 2013-07-12 18:13:40Z

I fixed the concatenation answer chosen by @Ecropolis to use arrays. His initial example helped me, but I agree with @RobertPitt that i needs a json_encode to really be properly a good solution.

  $filesArray = array('videos/funny/jelloman.wmv','videos/funny/bellydance.flv','videos/abc.mp4','videos/june.mp4','videos/cleaver.mp4','audio/uptown.mp3','audio/juicy.mp3','fun.wmv', 'jimmy.wmv','herman.wmv');
  $finalTree = $this->parseArrayToTree($filesArray);

  $finalJsonTree = json_encode($finalTree);

  function parseArrayToTree($paths) {
    sort($paths);
    $array = array();
    foreach ($paths as $path)
    {
      $path = trim($path, '/');
      $list = explode('/', $path);
      $n = count($list);

      $arrayRef = &$array; // start from the root
      for ($i = 0; $i < $n; $i++)
      {
        $key = $list[$i];
        $arrayRef = &$arrayRef[$key]; // index into the next level
      }
    }

    $dataArray = array();
    $dataArray['data'] = array();
    $dataArray['data'] = $this->buildUL($array, '');
    return $dataArray;
  }

  function buildUL($array, $prefix) {
    $finalArray = array();

    foreach ($array as $key => $value)
    {
      $levelArray = array();
      $path_parts = pathinfo($key);
      if (!empty($path_parts['extension']) && $path_parts['extension'] != '')
      {
        $extension = $path_parts['extension'];
      }
      else
      {
        if (empty($value))
        {
          $extension = "";
        }
        else if (is_array($value))
        {
          $extension = 'folder';
        }
      }

      if (is_array($value))
      { //its a folder
        $levelArray['data'] = $key;
      }
      else
      { //its a file
        $levelArray['data']['title'] = $key;
        $levelArray['attr']['href'] = $prefix . $key;
        $levelArray['attr']['id'] = $prefix . $key;
        $levelArray['icon'] = "images/" . $extension . "-icon.gif";
      }

      // if the value is another array, recursively build the list$key
      if (is_array($value))
      {
        $levelArray['children'] = $this->buildUL($value, $prefix . $key . "/");
      }

      $finalArray[] = $levelArray;
    } //end foreach

    return $finalArray;
  }

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