PHP scan directory and array

Question

I have a script that scans a folder and put in an array the file names it contains. Then I shuffle the array and display the file names.

Like this:

$count=0;
$ar=array();
$i=1;
$g=scandir('./images/');

foreach($g as $x)
{
    if(is_dir($x))$ar[$x]=scandir($x);
    else 
    { 
        $count++;
        $ar[]=$x;   
    }
}
shuffle($ar);

while($i <= $count)
{
    echo $ar[$i-1];
    $i++;
}
?>

It works well but for some reason I get something like this:

fff.jpg
ccc.jpg
Array
nnn.jpg
ttt.jpg
sss.jpg
bbb.jpg
Array
eee.jpg

Of course, the order changes when I refresh the page because of the shuffle I did but among 200 filenames I always get these 2 "Array" somewhere in the list.

What could it be?

Thank you

@Dagon blob blob I think that would be fish :) Do you mean glob ? — Rizier123
– Rizier123, Commented May 13, 2015 at 23:47
I'll look for glob, thank you. In the meantime, I would like to know what is going wrong with the script as it is (the first one). Here in my example, I just "echo" the filenames to make it simple but I need more than that. So I need to store the names in an array for a later use. I believe that, glob or not, I will end up with the exact same issue. — Baylock
– Baylock, Commented May 13, 2015 at 23:49
if you need to recursively search thru the directories, you can use SPL libraries for that also stackoverflow.com/questions/20045622/… — Kevin
– Kevin, Commented May 13, 2015 at 23:57
@Baylock does ./images/ only contain images, or does it contain subfolders as well? do you need to look into its subfolders too for images? — Kevin
– Kevin, Commented May 14, 2015 at 0:09

Funk Forty Niner · Accepted Answer · 2015-05-14 01:35:00Z

Just to explain the part wherein it gives you the Array.

First off, scandir returns the following:

Returns an array of files and directories from the directory.

From that return values, it returned this (this is an example, for reference):

Array
(
    [0] => . // current directory
    [1] => .. // parent directory
    [2] => imgo.jpg
    [3] => logo.png
    [4] => picture1.png
    [5] => picture2.png
    [6] => picture3.png
    [7] => picture4.png
)

Those dots right there are actually folders. Right now in your code logic, when it hits/iterate this spot:

if(is_dir($x))$ar[$x]=scandir($x); // if its a directory
// invoke another set of scandir into this directory, then append it into the array

Thats why your resultant array has mixed strings, and that another extra/unneeded scandir array return values from ..

A dirty quick fix could be used in order to avoid those. Just skip the dots:

foreach($g as $x)
{
    // skip the dots
    if(in_array($x, array('..', '.'))) continue;
    if(is_dir($x))$ar[$x]=scandir($x);
    else
    {
        $count++;
        $ar[]=$x;
    }
}

Another alternative is to use DirectoryIterator:

$path = './images/';
$files = new DirectoryIterator($path);
$ar = array();
foreach($files as $file) {
    if(!$file->isDot()) {
        // if its not a directory
        $ar[] = $file->getFilename();
    }
}

echo '<pre>', print_r($ar, 1);

Thank you very much. That's it. The other contributors are probably right with their suggestions but I needed to know what happened here and your answer makes total sens.
@l'L'l yes of course glob would be cool and flexible since it'll support even with wildcards and other stuff, sure no harm done.
@Ghost: Here's what I was thinking - feel free to add it to your answer if you think it's helpful, cheers :)
Don't kid yourself; give yourself more credit. I thought you gave them a rather good explanation ;-)

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