How to delete a file in PHP?

by lindsey.homenick , in category: PHP General , 6 months ago

How to delete a file in PHP?

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Telegram Whatsapp

1 answer

by mallory_cormier , 5 months ago

@lindsey.homenick 

To delete a file in PHP, you can use the unlink() function, which deletes a file given its filename:

 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
10
<?php
$filename = "file.txt";

if (file_exists($filename)) {
  unlink($filename);
  echo "File deleted successfully.";
} else {
  echo "File does not exist.";
}
?>


In the code above, file_exists() function is used to check whether the file exists before attempting to delete it. If the file exists, unlink() function is called to delete the file, and a success message is displayed. Otherwise, an error message is displayed.


Note that unlink() function can only delete files, not directories. To delete a directory, you need to recursively delete all of its contents first, then delete the directory itself.