Read entry from directory handle

opendir
rewinddir
Directory Functions
PHP Manual

# readdir

(PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 7)

readdir — Read entry from directory handle

### Description

string readdir ([ resource `$dir_handle` ] )

Returns the name of the next entry in the directory. The entries are returned in the order in which they are stored by the filesystem.

### Parameters

`dir_handle`

  The directory handle resource previously opened with opendir(). If the directory handle is not specified, the last link opened by opendir() is assumed.

### Return Values

Returns the entry name on success or `FALSE` on failure.

Warning

This function may return Boolean `FALSE`, but may also return a non-Boolean value which evaluates to `FALSE`. Please read the section on Booleans for more information. Use the === operator for testing the return value of this function.

### Examples

Example #1 List all entries in a directory

Please note the fashion in which readdir()'s return value is checked in the examples below. We are explicitly testing whether the return value is identical to (equal to and of the same type as--see Comparison Operators for more information) `FALSE` since otherwise, any directory entry whose name evaluates to `FALSE` will stop the loop (e.g. a directory named "0").

`<?php
if ($handle = opendir('/path/to/files')) {
echo "Directory handle: $handle\n";
echo "Entries:\n";
/* This is the correct way to loop over the directory. */
while (false !== ($entry = readdir($handle))) {
echo "$entry\n";
}
/* This is the WRONG way to loop over the directory. */
while ($entry = readdir($handle)) {
echo "$entry\n";
}
closedir($handle);
}
?>`

Example #2 List all entries in the current directory and strip out . and ..

`<?php
if ($handle = opendir('.')) {
while (false !== ($entry = readdir($handle))) {
if ($entry != "." && $entry != "..") {
echo "$entry\n";
}
}
closedir($handle);
}
?>`

### See Also

- is_dir() - Tells whether the filename is a directory
- glob() - Find pathnames matching a pattern
- opendir() - Open directory handle
- scandir() - List files and directories inside the specified path

opendir
rewinddir
Directory Functions
PHP Manual