Array losing its values outside the foreach loop

[YousefAB]

Hey all,
I would really appreciate it if you can help me with this problem.
The basic idea, read all the files in a folder, and print them as links to each file.
Which does work.
But now, after it gets out of the foreach loop, I need it to keep the array of $fileNames.
Because I need to reuse it after, but it doesn't. And I don't get why.

Thanks in advance, code is following.

$siteName = 'my site';
$fileNames = array();
$fileNumber = 0;
$directory = 'applications/bussSites';
$dir = new DirectoryIterator($directory);
foreach($dir as $file ){
	if(($file != ".") && ($file != "..")){
		$fileNames[$fileNumber] = $file;
		echo '<a href="'.$siteName.$directory.'/'.$file.'">'.$file.'<a><br />';
		$fileNumber++;
	}
	
	echo "=".$fileNumber."--".$fileNames[$fileNumber-1]."<br/>";
}
//echo $fileNames[3]."<br/>";
echo "========================\n";
for($i=0; $i<$fileNumber; $i++){
	echo $fileNames[$i+1]."<br />";
}
echo "<br />";
echo "<a>Number: ".$fileNumber."</a>";
echo '</div>';

and I get this:

1_aple.txt
=1--1_aple.txt
3_jasd.txt
=2--3_jasd.txt
10_jad.txt
=3--10_jad.txt
7_pdjf.txt
=4--7_pdjf.txt
=4--.
=4--..
2_jdha.txt
=5--2_jdha.txt
======================== 





Number: 5

[YousefAB]

Any ideas? I would love to try them.
I really need help in this...

[madCoder]

When you loop over the DirectoryIterator object it is returning DirectoryIterator objects, not strings containing filenames.

At the end of your script add a line like this:

echo "<pre>".print_r($fileNames,true)."</pre>";

print_r will show you what $fileNames contains. You can use the getFilename() method to get the filename and store it into the array instead of the objects.

[rch1231]

Your not losing any variables it is just that . and .. are directories not files.

[YousefAB]

Thanks for the reply madcoder,

I'm new to these things, would you be able to explain to me what "$fileNames" actually contains in my code? Like what is "DirectoryIterator object" exactly?

Secondly, the way I would use "getFilename()" is like this "getFilename($fileNames[$fileNumber])" based on my code? or am I understanding you wrong?

Thanks in advance.

rch1231, thanks for the attempt but that was not my question, I realize these are directories. but if you look after "==...==" it does not "reprint" the file names as I requested it in the php code. My question, WHY NOT? where did the file names go?

[madCoder]

$fileNames in your code contains an array of DirectoryIterator class objects. The DirectoryIterator class is documented at http://php.net/manual/en/class.directoryiterator.php

In case you are really new to php or programming in general, an object is a collection of both data/variables (properties) and functions (methods) that represent something. A class is the definition in code and an object is a created instance of a class. The new operator is (usually) used to create an instance of a class. To access the (public) properties and methods of an object you use the '->' operator (dash, greater than.)

<?php
$currentPath = dirname(__FILE__);
//  This says create a new DirectoryIterator object and call it $uploadsDir.
$uploadsDir = new DirectoryIterator($currentPath);  
$onlyNames = print_contents($uploadsDir);

function print_contents($directory)
{
	$filenames = array();
?>
<table>
<tr><th>Name</th><th>Type</th><th>Changed on</th></tr>
<?php
	# DirectoryIterator is a class that can be looped over like an 
	# array (hinted at by the word Iterator in the name.
	foreach($directory as $dirEntry)
	{
		// Each $dirEntry is another DirectoryIterator object.  It can represent a directory, file, or link (symbolic or hard link.)
		if($dirEntry->isDot())  // Method that checks for . or ..
		{
			continue;
		}
	
		printf("<tr><td>%s</td><td>%s</td><td>%s</td></tr>\n", $dirEntry->getFilename(), $dirEntry->getType(), date('n/j/Y',$dirEntry->getCTime()));
		array_push($filenames, $dirEntry->getFilename);
	}
?>
</table>
<?php	
	return $filenames;
}
?>

-------

Secondly, the way I would use "getFilename()" is like this "getFilename($fileNames[$fileNumber])" based on my code? or am I understanding you wrong?

No, but it is legal to do this:

echo $filenames[$fileNumber]->getFilename();

[YousefAB]

I really do appreciate your response and thanks.

I was a little hasten to post my reply, because just a few minutes after I looked into your first response, I found those pages and how to get the fileName.

I'm actually not new to programing, I have done a couple of languages before, just new to php, and some stuff it in, I didn't realize by object you meant a class, when I found that page, I realized that. ;)

Also, I was just about to post a reply that I found it.

Anyways, Thank you very much ;) Problem solved.