Filtering Files by Extension in PHP

When working with directories, it is often necessary to retrieve specific files based on their extension. PHP provides an efficient way to accomplish this task using the glob() function.

To filter files by extension, use the syntax:

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

For instance, to retrieve all .ini files in the directory /path/to/directory, use:

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

The glob() function returns an array containing the matching files and directories. If no files match the pattern, it returns an empty array; if there's an error, it returns FALSE.

For example:

$dir_f = "whatever/random/";
$files = glob($dir_f . '*.ini');

This will populate $files with a list of all .ini files in the specified directory.

Additionally, the glob() function supports various pattern matching characters:

• *: Matches any number of characters.
• ?: Matches a single character.
• []: Matches any character inside the square brackets.
• {}: Matches multiple alternatives.
• \: Escapes special characters.

By utilizing glob() and these characters, you can flexibly and efficiently retrieve files with specific extensions in your PHP scripts.