exists()
public function exists(string $path): bool
Description
Checks whether a file or directory exists at the specified path.
Parameters
| Parameter | Type | Description |
|---|
| $path |
string |
The path to the file or directory. |
Return Value
| Type | Description |
|---|
| bool |
Returns true if the file or directory exists, otherwise false. |
Example #1
The code sample below demonstrates how to check if a user's profile picture exists before displaying it.
public function view_profile(): void {
$user_id = segment(3, 'int');
// Get user record
$user = $this->db->get_where($user_id, 'users');
if ($user === false) {
redirect('users/not_found');
}
// Check if profile picture exists
$picture_path = 'modules/users/pictures/' . $user->profile_picture;
if ($this->file->exists($picture_path)) {
$data['picture_url'] = BASE_URL . $picture_path;
} else {
// Use default avatar if picture doesn't exist
$data['picture_url'] = BASE_URL . 'public/images/default_avatar.png';
}
$data['user'] = $user;
$this->view('profile', $data);
}
Example #2
The example above shows how to verify a directory exists before attempting to list its contents.
public function list_user_files(): void {
$user_id = segment(3, 'int');
$user_directory = 'modules/files/storage/user_' . $user_id;
// Check if user directory exists
if ($this->file->exists($user_directory)) {
$contents = $this->file->list_directory($user_directory);
$data['files'] = $contents['files'];
$data['directories'] = $contents['directories'];
} else {
// Create directory if it doesn't exist
$this->file->create_directory($user_directory, 0755);
$data['files'] = [];
$data['directories'] = [];
}
$data['user_id'] = $user_id;
$this->view('user_files', $data);
}
Example #3
The example above demonstrates how to safely clean up temporary files only if they exist.
public function cleanup_temp_files(): void {
$temp_files = [
'temp/import_data.csv',
'temp/processing_log.txt',
'temp/validation_errors.json'
];
$deleted_count = 0;
foreach ($temp_files as $file_path) {
if ($this->file->exists($file_path)) {
$this->file->delete($file_path);
$deleted_count++;
}
}
echo "Cleaned up {$deleted_count} temporary files";
}
Checking Files vs Directories: The exists() method returns true for both files and directories. If you need to specifically verify that a path is a directory (not a file), use PHP's native is_dir($path) function instead. Similarly, use is_file($path) to confirm a path is specifically a file.