Master PHP’s glob() Function: Find Files and Directories Efficiently

PHP is a widely used programming language, and its standard library includes the powerful glob() function for finding file pathnames that match a given pattern.

Syntax

glob(pattern, flags)

Parameters

pattern

: the pattern to match; it can be a directory name, a file name, or include wildcards such as * and ?. flags (optional): additional options, for example to search hidden files or control sorting.

Example 1: Find all PHP files in a directory

$files = glob('/path/to/directory/*.php');

The code returns an array containing the paths and filenames of every .php file in the specified directory.

Example 2: Find specific files in multiple directories

$dirs = array('/path/to/directory1/', '/path/to/directory2/');
$files = array();
foreach ($dirs as $dir) {
    $files = array_merge($files, glob($dir . '*.txt'));
}

This searches both directories for .txt files and merges the results into a single array.

Example 3: Use brace wildcard to find multiple file types

$files = glob('/path/to/directory/*.{php,txt}', GLOB_BRACE);

The resulting array contains both PHP and TXT files; the GLOB_BRACE flag enables the brace syntax.

Example 4: Find all directories

$dirs = glob('/path/to/directory/*', GLOB_ONLYDIR);

This call returns an array of all sub‑directories; the GLOB_ONLYDIR flag restricts matches to directories.

Conclusion

glob()

is a very practical function for locating files and directories, but remember that wildcard searches can affect performance, especially when scanning large directory trees.