Scanning Multiple Subfolders in PHP with glob

In PHP, the glob function can be utilized to search for files within a specified directory. However, when searching across multiple subdirectories and sub-subdirectories, additional considerations are necessary.

Recursive Search with glob

One approach is to employ the recursive capabilities of glob. Here's a function that performs a recursive search for the specified file pattern:

function rglob($pattern, $flags = 0) {
    $files = glob($pattern, $flags); 
    foreach (glob(dirname($pattern).'/*', GLOB_ONLYDIR|GLOB_NOSORT) as $dir) {
        $files = array_merge(
            [],
            ...[$files, rglob($dir . "/" . basename($pattern), $flags)]
        );
    }
    return $files;
}

To use this function, simply provide the root directory and file pattern as arguments:

$result = rglob($_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . '/test.zip');
var_dump($result);

Alternative Approach with RecursiveDirectoryIterator

Another option is to use the RecursiveDirectoryIterator class. Here's a function that leverages this class to search recursively for the specified file pattern:

function rsearch($folder, $regPattern) {
    $dir = new RecursiveDirectoryIterator($folder);
    $ite = new RecursiveIteratorIterator($dir);
    $files = new RegexIterator($ite, $regPattern, RegexIterator::GET_MATCH);
    $fileList = array();
    foreach($files as $file) {
        $fileList = array_merge($fileList, $file);
    }
    return $fileList;
}

To invoke this function:

$result = rsearch($_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'], '/.*\/test\.zip/'));
var_dump($result);

Both glob and RecursiveDirectoryIterator provide viable solutions for recursively searching for files within multiple subdirectories. The choice between them depends on the specific needs of your application.