How to Reliably Determine if a Directory is Empty in PHP?

Determining Directory Empty Status in PHP

To ascertain whether a directory is devoid of files, a common approach involves employing PHP's built-in functions like glob or scandir. However, these techniques may overlook certain hidden files. To ensure accuracy, consider utilizing the is_dir_empty() function.

is_dir_empty() Function

The is_dir_empty() function utilizes scandir to scrutinize a directory's contents. If only the directories . (current directory) and .. (parent directory) are present, the directory is deemed empty, returning True. Otherwise, it returns False, indicating the presence of other files or subdirectories.

Example Implementation

<code class="php">function is_dir_empty($dir) {
  return (count(scandir($dir)) == 2);
}</code>

Alternative Function

Alternatively, a more efficient method employs opendir and readdir to directly check for file presence without completely reading them.

<code class="php">function dir_is_empty($dir) {
  $handle = opendir($dir);
  while (false !== ($entry = readdir($handle))) {
    if ($entry != "." &amp;&amp; $entry != "..") {
      closedir($handle);
      return false;
    }
  }
  closedir($handle);
  return true;
}</code>

Using Function in Control Structures

Once you have identified the appropriate function, you can leverage its output directly in control structures without any intermediary variables. For instance:

<code class="php">if (is_dir_empty($dir)) {
  echo "The folder is empty.";
} else {
  echo "The folder is NOT empty.";
}</code>

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