PHP 8.4.0 RC4 available for testing

    filetype

    (PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 7, PHP 8)

    filetype — Gets file type

    Description

    filetype(string $filename): string|false

    Returns the type of the given file.

    Parameters

    filename

    Path to the file.

    Return Values

    Returns the type of the file. Possible values are fifo, char, dir, block, link, file, socket and unknown.

    Returns false if an error occurs. filetype() will also produce an E_NOTICE message if the stat call fails or if the file type is unknown.

    Errors/Exceptions

    Upon failure, an E_WARNING is emitted.

    Examples

    Example #1 filetype() example

    <?php

    echo filetype('/etc/passwd');
    echo     "\n";
    echo     filetype('/etc/');

    ?>

    The above example will output:

    file
dir

    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 Supported Protocols and Wrappers to determine which wrappers support stat() family of functionality.

    See Also

    • is_dir() - Tells whether the filename is a directory
    • is_file() - Tells whether the filename is a regular file
    • is_link() - Tells whether the filename is a symbolic link
    • file_exists() - Checks whether a file or directory exists
    • mime_content_type() - Detect MIME Content-type for a file
    • pathinfo() - Returns information about a file path
    • stat() - Gives information about a file

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    User Contributed Notes 4 notes

    up
    23
    ruach at chpc dot utah dot edu
    20 years ago
    There are 7 values that can be returned. Here is a list of them and what each one means

    block: block special device

    char: character special device

    dir: directory

    fifo: FIFO (named pipe)

    file: regular file

    link: symbolic link

    unknown: unknown file type
    up
    8
    adlerweb
    14 years ago
    filetype() does not work for files >=2GB on x86 Linux. You can use stat as a workarround:

    $type=trim(`stat -c%F $file`);

    Note that stat returns diffenerent strings ("regular file","directory",...)
    up
    -3
    7r6ivyeo at mail dot com
    15 years ago
    I use the CLI version of PHP on Windows Vista. Here's how to determine if a file is marked "hidden" by NTFS:

    <?php
    function is_hidden_file($fn) {

    $attr = trim(exec('FOR %A IN ("'.$fn.'") DO @ECHO %~aA'));

    if(    $attr[3] === 'h')
    return     true;

    return     false;
    }
    ?>

    Changing <?php if($attr[3] === 'h') ?> to <?php if($attr[4] === 's') ?> will check for system files.

    This should work on any Windows OS that provides DOS shell commands.
    up
    -4
    Abhi Jain
    13 years ago
    Putting @ in front of the filetype() function does not prevent it from raising a warning (Lstat failed), if E_WARNING is enabled on your error_reporting.

    The most common cause of filetype() raising this warning and not showing a filetype() in the output (it actually returns NULL) is, if you happened to pass just the 'Dir or File Name' and not the complete "Absolute or Relative Path" to that 'file or Dir'. It may still read that file and return its filetype as "file" but for Dir's it shows warning and outputs NULL.
    eg:
    $pathToFile = '/var/www';
    $file = 'test.php';
    $dir = 'somedir';

    Output for filetype($file) will be returned as 'file' and possibly without any warning, but for filetype($dir), it will return NULL with the warning "Lstat failed", unless you pass a complete path to that dir, i.e. filetype($pathToFile.'/'.$dir).

    This happened to me and found this solution after a lot of trial and error. Thought, it might help someone.
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