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file_exists

(PHP 3, PHP 4, PHP 5)

file_exists -- Checks whether a file or directory exists

Description

bool file_exists ( string filename )

Checks whether a file or directory exists.

Parameters

filename

Path to the file or directory.

On windows, use //computername/share/filename or \\computername\share\filename to check files on network shares.

Return Values

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

Warning

This function returns FALSE for files inaccessible due to safe mode restrictions. However these files still can be included if they are located in safe_mode_include_dir.

Note: The check is done using the real UID/GID instead of the effective one.

Examples

Example 1. Testing whether a file exists

<?php
$filename = '/path/to/foo.txt';

if (file_exists($filename)) {
    echo "The file $filename exists";
} else {
    echo "The file $filename does not exist";
}
?>

Notes

Note: The results of this function are cached. See clearstatcache() for more details.

Tip: As of PHP 5.0.0 this function can also be used with some URL wrappers. Refer to Appendix O for a listing of which wrappers support stat() family of functionality.

See Also

is_readable()
is_writable()
is_file()
file()

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