php file exists or not

Question

I have the following code, what is the easiest way to check if $data has something in it?

$handle = fopen($_FILES['uploaded_file']['tmp_name'], "rb");

$data = fread($handle, filesize($_FILES['uploaded_file']['size']));

when I do

file_exists($_FILES['uploaded_file']['tmp_name']

it prints out 1? does 1 mean exists?

Community · Accepted Answer · 2023-11-17 20:42:18Z

2

file_exists() will return a boolean value, where 1 == TRUE and 0 == FALSE.

Typically you would use something like:

if (file_exists($_FILES['uploaded_file']['tmp_name'])) {
  // success
}
else {
  // failure
}

Easier than fopen(), fread() is file_get_contents():

if (file_exists($_FILES['uploaded_file']['tmp_name'])) {
  $data = file_get_contents($_FILES['uploaded_file']['tmp_name']);
  echo $data;
}

edited Nov 17, 2023 at 20:42

CommunityBot

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answered Jul 18, 2011 at 2:18

Michael Berkowski

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1 Comment

zerkms Over a year ago

Actually cannot imagine a case when uploaded file couldn't exist (except if it hasn't been deleted explicitly in the same script few lines earlier) ;-)

zerkms · Accepted Answer · 2011-07-18 02:18:49Z

1

It means that file_exists() function returned true which has been casted to 1. And yes - that means that file exists.

answered Jul 18, 2011 at 2:18

zerkms

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2 Comments

alex Over a year ago

You could use is_file() too which won't give TRUE for a directory :)

zerkms Over a year ago

@alex: yep, but it cannot be applied for cases like OP has (when we check if uploaded file exists) ;-P

The Mask · Accepted Answer · 2011-07-18 02:24:52Z

0

in some languages 1 and 0 represent boolean values

1 as true 0 as false

if(1) {
 //do something
}

equal to

if(true) {
 //do something
}

answered Jul 18, 2011 at 2:24

The Mask

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1 Comment

Maurice Over a year ago

Minor addition; they do not represent boolean values but rather get evaluated to boolean values. true === 1 still evaluates to false where true == 1 evaluates to true.

Community · Accepted Answer · 2023-11-17 19:22:09Z

0

"file_get_contents() is the preferred way to read the contents of a file into a string. It will use memory mapping techniques if supported by your OS to enhance performance."

https://www.php.net/manual/en/function.file-get-contents.php

if(file_exists($_FILES['uploaded_file']['tmp_name']))
   $data = file_get_contents($_FILES['uploaded_file']['tmp_name']);

edited Nov 17, 2023 at 19:22

CommunityBot

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answered Jul 18, 2011 at 2:20

Paul

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Comments

Mingle · Accepted Answer · 2011-07-18 02:24:15Z

if(file_exists($_FILES['uploaded_file']['tmp_name'])) {
    // file does exist... 
    // we can move it now.. or do some more "checking" on it.
} else {
    // file doesn't exist...
}

This here (file_exists()) will return a boolean value on whether or not the file DOES exist.

If it's true, and you output this.. it will be equal to one. If it's false, it's "nothing" or 0.

Here is how booleans work... just for reference..

These are considered false

the boolean FALSE itself
the integer 0 (zero)
the float 0.0 (zero)
the empty string, and the string "0"
an array with zero elements
an object with zero member variables (PHP 4 only)
the special type NULL (including unset variables)
SimpleXML objects created from empty tags

Every other value is considered true

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