Create a select dropdown from file tree of images & sub directories using PHP

Question

I'm creating a wordpress meta box and I need to scan a directory of subdirectories containing images within my template and add these to a select dropdown so I can use the filename in my template.

The images are currently arranged in the folder like this:

Parent Folder
|_ Secondary Folder
   |_ Image.png
   |_ Image.jpg
   |_ Image.gif
|_ Secondary Folder
   |_ Image.png
   |_ Image.jpg
   |_ Image.gif

Ideally I'd like to keep that structure in my select dropdown ie.

Secondary Folder .
   |_ Image.png

I've been using this:

function get_dir_path(){
    return dirname(__FILE__).'/library/images';
}
$largeImagesdir = get_dir_path() . '/960x345/';


    if ($dh = opendir($largeImagesdir)) {
        while (($file = readdir($dh)) !== false) {
            $lfiles .= '<option>' . $file . '</option>';
        }
        closedir($dh);
    }

    $buildbox .= '<select>' . $lfiles . '</select>';

However this of course only works if I set the $largeImagesdir var to be one of the sub directories...

Can anyone help?

Answer 1

You need a loop inside a loop. Assuming only 2 levels of directories, in your while check if $file is a subdirectory with is_dir(), and if yes do a readdir() on that too to get its options built.

Then, you can distinguish the subdirectories by optgroup in your <select> element.

If you need multiple varying levels of subdirectories you'll need a recursive function to take care of it. The one shown here is a good starting point.