Building a recursive delete function (in php)

Question

Hi,

Here's the deal. I've got a "tree" or a "subtree" that I want to navigate and delete every element in. Each "node" may contain links to other nodes below it (no problem) OR may contain links OUTSIDE that particular "tree"/"subtree". How can I build a function that only deletes "within" the specified tree?

Answer 1

you need RecursiveIterator

Answer 2

You need to use realpath():

function DeleteTree($path)
{
    if (is_dir($path) === true)
    {
        $path = realpath($path);
        $files = array_diff(scandir($path), array('.', '..'));

        foreach ($files as $file)
        {
            $file = realpath($path . '/' . $file);

            // file is within tree
            if (substr($file, 0, strlen($path)) == $path)
            {
                DeleteTree($file);
            }
        }

        return rmdir($path);
    }

    else if (is_file($path) === true)
    {
        return unlink($path);
    }

    return false;
}

The above should do what you're looking for.

---

Oh... I just realized this may not be related to the filesystem... The fault is all yours! :P

Answer 3

This is the same recursive delete that you're used to. You just have to keep your links separated - one list for in-tree links, one for out-of-tree links. Alternately, you can have a flag that keeps track of the in-tree/out-of-tree state for each link - but you're going to have to distinguish when you make the link.