Listing files on FTP server using PHP glob is not working

Question

I use this code to access directory.

$location = 'files/';
$pictures = glob($location . "*.png");

I want to access remote path using FTP

$location = opendir('ftp://user:password@host_name/files');
$pictures = glob($location . "*.png");

My FTP directory access code not work correctly.

Answer 1

PHP glob function does not support URL wrappers:

Note: This function will not work on remote files as the file to be examined must be accessible via the server's filesystem.

---

The only reliable way is to list files matching a wildcard, is to list all files using PHP FTP functions and filter them locally:

$conn_id = ftp_connect("ftp.example.com") or die("Cannot connect");
ftp_login($conn_id, "username", "password") or die("Cannot login");
ftp_pasv($conn_id, true) or die("Cannot change to passive mode");

$files = ftp_nlist($conn_id, "/path");

foreach ($files as $file)
{
    if (preg_match("/\.png$/i", $file))
    {
        echo "Found $file\n";
    }
}

(this is what the glob would do internally anyway, had it supported URL wrappers)

---

Some (most) FTP servers will allow you to use a wildcard directly:

$conn_id = ftp_connect("ftp.example.com") or die("Cannot connect");
ftp_login($conn_id, "username", "password") or die("Cannot login");
ftp_pasv($conn_id, true) or die("Cannot change to passive mode");

$files = ftp_nlist($conn_id, "/path/*.png");

foreach ($files as $file)
{
    echo "Found $file\n";
}

But that's a nonstandard feature (while widely supported).

For details see my answer to FTP directory partial listing with wildcards.