Common Pitfalls
After trying dozens of ways that are supposed to fix the wonkyness of the $_FILES array I didn't find any that could work with a input name like: userfile[christiaan][][][is][gaaf][]
So I came up with this class
<?php
/**
* A class that takes the pain out of the $_FILES array
* @author Christiaan Baartse <christiaan@baartse.nl>
*/
class UploadedFiles extends ArrayObject
{
public function current() {
return $this->_normalize(parent::current());
}
public function offsetGet($offset) {
return $this->_normalize(parent::offsetGet($offset));
}
protected function _normalize($entry) {
if(isset($entry['name']) && is_array($entry['name'])) {
$files = array();
foreach($entry['name'] as $k => $name) {
$files[$k] = array(
'name' => $name,
'tmp_name' => $entry['tmp_name'][$k],
'size' => $entry['size'][$k],
'type' => $entry['type'][$k],
'error' => $entry['error'][$k]
);
}
return new self($files);
}
return $entry;
}
}
?>
This allows you to access a file uploaded using the following inputtype
<input type="file" name="userfile[christiaan][][][is][gaaf][]" />
like
<?php
$files = new UploadedFiles($_FILES);
var_dump($files['userfile']['christiaan'][0][0]['is']['gaaf'][0]);
// or
foreach($files['userfile']['christiaan'][0][0]['is']['gaaf'] as $file) {
var_dump($file);
}
?>
Uploading multiple files
Multiple files can be uploaded using different name for input.
It is also possible to upload multiple files simultaneously and have the information organized automatically in arrays for you. To do so, you need to use the same array submission syntax in the HTML form as you do with multiple selects and checkboxes:
Example #1 Uploading multiple files
<form action="file-upload.php" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data"> Send these files:<br /> <input name="userfile[]" type="file" /><br /> <input name="userfile[]" type="file" /><br /> <input type="submit" value="Send files" /> </form>
When the above form is submitted, the arrays $_FILES['userfile'], $_FILES['userfile']['name'], and $_FILES['userfile']['size'] will be initialized (as well as in $HTTP_POST_FILES for PHP versions prior to 4.1.0). When register_globals is on, globals for uploaded files are also initialized. Each of these will be a numerically indexed array of the appropriate values for the submitted files.
For instance, assume that the filenames /home/test/review.html and /home/test/xwp.out are submitted. In this case, $_FILES['userfile']['name'][0] would contain the value review.html, and $_FILES['userfile']['name'][1] would contain the value xwp.out. Similarly, $_FILES['userfile']['size'][0] would contain review.html's file size, and so forth.
$_FILES['userfile']['name'][0], $_FILES['userfile']['tmp_name'][0], $_FILES['userfile']['size'][0], and $_FILES['userfile']['type'][0] are also set.
Warning
Since PHP 5.2.12, the max_file_uploads configuration setting acts as a limit on the number of files that can be uploaded in one request. You will need to ensure that your form does not try to upload more files in one request than this limit.
add a note
User Contributed Notes
Uploading multiple files - [19 notes]
christiaan at baartse dot nl ¶
3 years ago
hotmail.com[at]notdefix ¶
5 years ago
With multiple file uploads
post_max_size: the total amount of data posted by the client (all files, and all other form field)
upload_max_filesize: the maximum size of 1 single file. (just like <input type="hidden" name="MAX_FILE_SIZE" value="..."/>)
so, with the directives:
post_max_size 25M
upload_max_filesize 2M
you can send 12 files of up to 2 MB and use up to 1 MB for your additional form-values.
As long as you read only a single copy of 1 file into memory, the memory_limit directive can be held reasonable small as well.
timspeelman at live dot nl ¶
1 year ago
The cleanest way to rearrange the $_FILES
<?php
function rearrange( $arr ){
foreach( $arr as $key => $all ){
foreach( $all as $i => $val ){
$new[$i][$key] = $val;
}
}
return $new;
}
?>
contato at dgmike dot com dot br ¶
1 year ago
I prefer something like this!
<?php
public function arrayImages ( &$file_post )
{
if( empty( $file_post ) ) {
return $file_post;
}
if( 'array'!==gettype($file_post['name']) ) {
return $file_post;
}
$keys = array_keys($file_post['name']);
$file_array = array();
foreach ($keys as $key) {
foreach ($file_post as $res=>$item) {
$file_array[$key][$res] = $item[$key];
}
}
return $file_array;
}
?>
phpuser at gmail dot com ¶
8 years ago
When uploading multiple files, the $_FILES variable is created in the form:
Array
(
[name] => Array
(
[0] => foo.txt
[1] => bar.txt
)
[type] => Array
(
[0] => text/plain
[1] => text/plain
)
[tmp_name] => Array
(
[0] => /tmp/phpYzdqkD
[1] => /tmp/phpeEwEWG
)
[error] => Array
(
[0] => 0
[1] => 0
)
[size] => Array
(
[0] => 123
[1] => 456
)
)
I found it made for a little cleaner code if I had the uploaded files array in the form
Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[name] => foo.txt
[type] => text/plain
[tmp_name] => /tmp/phpYzdqkD
[error] => 0
[size] => 123
)
[1] => Array
(
[name] => bar.txt
[type] => text/plain
[tmp_name] => /tmp/phpeEwEWG
[error] => 0
[size] => 456
)
)
I wrote a quick function that would convert the $_FILES array to the cleaner (IMHO) array.
<?php
function reArrayFiles(&$file_post) {
$file_ary = array();
$file_count = count($file_post['name']);
$file_keys = array_keys($file_post);
for ($i=0; $i<$file_count; $i++) {
foreach ($file_keys as $key) {
$file_ary[$i][$key] = $file_post[$key][$i];
}
}
return $file_ary;
}
?>
Now I can do the following:
<?php
if ($_FILES['upload']) {
$file_ary = reArrayFiles($_FILES['ufile']);
foreach ($file_ary as $file) {
print 'File Name: ' . $file['name'];
print 'File Type: ' . $file['type'];
print 'File Size: ' . $file['size'];
}
}
?>
Corey Ballou ¶
3 years ago
Here is a function to fix the indices of a multi-dimensional for easier parsing when dealing with file uploads. It takes a single $_FILES field array as a parameter and separates each individual uploaded file by numeric key. This allows for iterating like:
<?php
fixFilesArray($_FILES['array_of_files']);
foreach ($_FILES['array_of_files'] as $position => $file) {
// should output array with indices name, type, tmp_name, error, size
var_dump($file);
}
?>
Here's the code:
<?php
/**
* Fixes the odd indexing of multiple file uploads from the format:
*
* $_FILES['field']['key']['index']
*
* To the more standard and appropriate:
*
* $_FILES['field']['index']['key']
*
* @param array $files
* @author Corey Ballou
* @link http://www.jqueryin.com
*/
function fixFilesArray(&$files)
{
$names = array( 'name' => 1, 'type' => 1, 'tmp_name' => 1, 'error' => 1, 'size' => 1);
foreach ($files as $key => $part) {
// only deal with valid keys and multiple files
$key = (string) $key;
if (isset($names[$key]) && is_array($part)) {
foreach ($part as $position => $value) {
$files[$position][$key] = $value;
}
// remove old key reference
unset($files[$key]);
}
}
}
?>
molnar at mediacube dot sk ¶
11 months ago
I'am using this to normalize $_FILES array. It's short and clean, normalizes fields with single upload or multiupload. It uses explicit array typecast:
<?php
function getNormalizedFILES()
{
$newfiles = array();
foreach($_FILES as $fieldname => $fieldvalue)
foreach($fieldvalue as $paramname => $paramvalue)
foreach((array)$paramvalue as $index => $value)
$newfiles[$fieldname][$index][$paramname] = $value;
return $newfiles;
}
?>
thomas dot hebinck at digionline dot de ¶
3 years ago
HTML5 defines <input type="file" multiple="true" name="files[]"> for uploading multiple files (implemented in Firefox 3.6 and Chrome 4 so far), rather than <input type="file" multiple="true" name="files[]" />.
sgoodman_at_nojunk_immunetolerance.org ¶
8 years ago
Re: phpuser_at_gmail's comment, a simpler way to have create that data structure is to name your HTML file inputs different names. If you want to upload multiple files, use:
<input type=file name=file1>
<input type=file name=file2>
<input type=file name=file3>
etc...
Each field name will be a key in the $_FILES array.
sque ¶
2 years ago
This a solution, using php closures (version >= 5.3), to convert the weird indexes schema of $_FILES. Very useful in case you have multiple indexes in the name of the html input element (e.g name="form1[set1][file1][]"), or if you just want to handle multiple files per element.
<?php
/**
* Fix the $_FILES order by converting from wierd schema
* [firstel]["name"][subel][0], [firstel]["size"][subel][0] ... [firstel]["error"][subel][0]
*
* to a more straightforward one.
* [firstel][subel][0]["name"], [firstel][subel][0]["size"] ... [firstel][subel][0]["error"]
*
* @author Sque
*/
$fix_files_keys = function($files) use (& $fix_files_keys)
{
if (isset($files['name'], $files['tmp_name'], $files['size'], $files['type'], $files['error'])){
// Multiple values for post-keys indexes
$move_indexes_right = function($files) use(& $move_indexes_right)
{
$results = array();
foreach($files['name'] as $index => $name) {
$reordered = array(
'name' => $files['name'][$index],
'tmp_name' => $files['tmp_name'][$index],
'size' => $files['size'][$index],
'type' => $files['type'][$index],
'error' => $files['error'][$index],
);
// If this is not leaf do it recursivly
if (is_array($name))
$reordered = $move_indexes_right($reordered);
$results[$index] = $reordered;
}
return $results;
};
return $move_indexes_right($files);
}
// Re order pre-keys indexes
array_walk($files, function(&$sub) use(& $fix_files_keys) {
$sub = $fix_files_keys($sub);
});
return $files;
};
?>
jess at semlabs dot co dot uk ¶
4 years ago
If you try and upload files with multi-dimensional names like this:
<input type="file" name="submission[screenshot]" />
<input type="file" name="other[dem][][img][]" />
You will get an unexpected format like this:
<?php
array(
'submission' => array
(
'name' => array( 'screenshot' => 'monster_wallpaper.jpg' ),
'type' => array( 'screenshot' => 'image/jpeg' ),
'tmp_name' => array( 'screenshot' => '/tmp/php48lX2Y' ),
'error' => array( 'screenshot' => 0 ),
'size' => array( 'screenshot' => 223262 ),
),
....
?>
You can use the following function to re-format the array recursively in the usual format:
<?php
function format_files_array( $files, $name = null, &$new = false, $path = false ){
$names = array( 'name' => 'name', 'type' => 'type', 'tmp_name' => 'tmp_name', 'error' => 'error', 'size' => 'size' );
foreach( $files as $key => &$part )
{
$key = ( string ) $key;
if( in_array( $key, $names ) )
$name = $key;
if( !in_array( $key, $names ) )
$path[] = $key;
if( is_array( $part ) )
$part = format_files_array( $part, $name, $new, $path );
elseif( !is_array( $part ) )
{
$current =& $new;
foreach( $path as $p )
$current =& $current[$p];
$current[$name] = $part;
unset( $path );
$name = null;
}
}
return $new;
}
?>
captlid at yahoo dot com ¶
6 years ago
I noticed that the manual does not have a basic processing script for testing purposes to process multiple file uploads. It took me about an hour to figure this out so I figured it should help some newbie.
Also on windows, the OS does not care if you use backslashes and front slashes while writing up a directory path. So for compatibility with *nix just keep it as a foward slash.
(Tested with php5, php4, apache 1.3x and 2x, on winxp pro, win2k pro and win98se and freebsd.)
The script is kept simple for illustration purposes. Dont use it in a production environment.
The form
<form method="post" action="" enctype="multipart/form-data">
<input type="hidden" name="MAX_FILE_SIZE" value="500000">
<?
for($i = 1; $i <= $_POST[totalfiles]; $i++) { echo $i.'. <input type="file" name="photos[]"><br>'."\n"; }
?>
<input type="submit" name="sendfiles" value="Send Files"></form>
The processing script, for simplicities sake in the same file.
if ($_POST[sendfiles]) {
print_r($_POST); echo '<pre>'; print_r($_FILES); echo '</pre>';
$uploaddir = getcwd().'/photos/; //a directory inside
foreach ($_FILES[photos][name] as $key => $value) {
$uploadfile = $uploaddir . basename($_FILES[photos][name][$key]);
//echo $uploadfile;
if (move_uploaded_file($_FILES['photos']['tmp_name'][$key], $uploadfile)) { echo $value . ' uploaded<br>'; }
}
}
Bob Doe ¶
7 years ago
Here is a the simple test form I needed, pieced togther from 2 or 3 posts in the documentation elsewhere.
<html>
<head>
<title>HTML Form for uploading image to server</title>
</head>
<body>
<form action="" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">
<p>Pictures:
<input type="file" name="pictures[]" />
<input type="file" name="pictures[]" />
<input type="file" name="pictures[]" />
<input type="submit" value="Send" />
</p>
</form>
<?php
//places files into same dir as form resides
foreach ($_FILES["pictures"]["error"] as $key => $error) {
if ($error == UPLOAD_ERR_OK) {
echo"$error_codes[$error]";
move_uploaded_file(
$_FILES["pictures"]["tmp_name"][$key],
$_FILES["pictures"]["name"][$key]
) or die("Problems with upload");
}
}
?>
</body>
</html>
Anonymous ¶
7 years ago
re: phpuser's comment
I found that if instead of the form structure at the top of the page use one like this:
<form action="file-upload.php" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">
Send these files:<br />
<input name="userfile1" type="file" /><br />
<input name="userfile2" type="file" /><br />
<input type="submit" value="Send files" />
</form>
Notice the names are unique and not an array element. Now the array is structured more like phpuser would like. I did this and used...
foreach ($_FILES as $file) { ... }
without issue.
bishop ¶
8 years ago
Elaboration on phpuser at gmail dot com reArrayFiles() function (which assumed sequential, integer keys and uni-dimensional), this function will work regardless of key and key depth:
<?php
// information grouper
function groupFileInfoByVariable(&$top, $info, $attr) {
if (is_array($info)) {
foreach ($info as $var => $val) {
if (is_array($val)) {
groupFileInfoByVariable($top[$var], $val, $attr);
} else {
$top[$var][$attr] = $val;
}
}
} else {
$top[$attr] = $info;
}
return true;
}
// usage
$newOrdering = array ();
foreach ($_FILES as $var => $info) {
foreach (array_keys($info) as $attr) {
groupFileInfoByVariable($newOrdering, $info[$attr], $attr);
}
}
// $newOrdering holds the updated order
?>
lugae at gmx dot ch ¶
1 year ago
Multiple upload might not work if you use a table for displaying your form inputs when <form> element is inside the <table> element. In this case only the first file will be uploaded.
Put the <form> element outside the <table> element to get it to work.
leehowarth1 at live dot co dot uk ¶
2 years ago
How to handle multiple $_FILES is quite easy i would use continue and build a further array for error messages to be displayed for output to the user, this is very good as say if you accept 4 of the 10 files the user uploads u can show 6 messages stating there file extensions are not allowed and then say a few was uploaded.
<?php
$uploaded = 0;
$message = array();
foreach ($_FILES['image']['name'] as $i => $name) {
if ($_FILES['image']['error'][$i] == 4) {
continue;
}
if ($_FILES['image']['error'][$i] == 0) {
if ($_FILES['image']['size'][$i] > 99439443) {
$message[] = "$name exceeded file limit.";
continue;
}
/*
* Check File Extension
* Move File
*/
$uploaded++;
}
}
echo $uploaded . ' files uploaded.';
foreach ($message as $error) {
echo $error;
}
?>
Enjoy!
tom at nono dot be ¶
5 years ago
Handling multiple uploads can be a lot more user friendly with a little help of javascript and form posting to iFrame...
To make it all a little bit more edible, you can use AJAX and divs to provide loader gifs etc...
Work with separate forms; note the target of each form = csr. It is the ID of an iFrame somewhere on the page. I call it CSR as short for Client-Server-Request.
Also note the hidden input formId that we will use in the php upload handler.
disable submitting the form using onsubmit="return false"...
Finally a button outside the form structure starting a javascript function onclick="upload(document.form_0, document.loader_0)"
<form onsubmit="return false" id="file_0" name="file_0" action="upload.php" target="csr" enctype="multipart/form-data" method="post" style="margin:px; padding:0px">
<table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr>
<td>File 1:</td>
<td>
<input type="hidden" id="formId" name="formId" value="0" />
<input type="hidden" id="MAX_FILE_SIZE" name="MAX_FILE_SIZE" value="1000000" />
<input type="file" id="userFile" name="userFile" class="invulveld100pct" />
</td>
<td>
<div id="loader_0"></div>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</form>
<form onsubmit="return false" id="file_1" name="file_1" action="upload.php" target="csr" enctype="multipart/form-data" method="post" style="margin:px; padding:0px">
<table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr>
<td>File 2:</td>
<td>
<input type="hidden" id="formId" name="formId" value="1" />
<input type="hidden" id="MAX_FILE_SIZE" name="MAX_FILE_SIZE" value="1000000" />
<input type="file" id="userFile" name="userFile" class="invulveld100pct" />
</td>
<td>
<div id="loader_0"></div>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</form>
<input type="button" onclick="upload(document.form_0, document.loader_0)" />
<iframe id="csr" name="csr" height="1" width="1" style="border:0px none"></iframe>
<!--//The javascript://-->
<script type="javascript">
function upload(form, loader){
//only do this if the form exists
if(form){
//display a loadbar
loader.innerHTML = 'loading.gif';
form.submit();
}
}
</script>
The php upload handler upload.php
Remember, your page will not refresh because the post is sent to your CSR iFrame.
<?php
//there are enough examples around to handle the upload...
//the only important difference is the error reporting and the starting of the next form upload...
//presume $uploadOk is a boolean that is true if the upload succeeds; false if it fails...
//note the use of "parent" in the outputted javascript... the script is outputted into the CSR iFrame... therefor it needs parent to acces dom objects and javascript of the main page.
$currentFormId = $_POST['formId'];
$nextFormId = $_POST['formId'] + 1;
echo "<script type=\"javascript\">";
//change the content of your loader div to a desired image
if($uploadOk){
echo "parent.loader_{$currentFormId}.innerHTML = 'uploadOk.gif';";
} else {
echo "parent.loader_{$currentFormId}.innerHTML = 'uploadNotOk.gif';";
}
//submit the next form... the javascript function will only perform it if the form exists.
echo "parent.upload(document.form_{$nextFormId}, document.loader_{$nextFormId});";
echo "</script>";
?>
This is just a quick draft of how to handle multiple files this way and I'm sure you would need to optimize the workflow to fit your needs, but the benifit of working this way is although your user still chooses multiple files, they are in fact posted one by one... This means your MAX_FILE_SIZE is determined for each file separately as opposed to the combined size of all files in one post.
I hope this is a contribution...
Donatas Olseviius ¶
1 year ago
This method fixes $_FILES array when uploading multiple files.
<?php
public static function fixGlobalFilesArray($files) {
$ret = array();
if(isset($files['tmp_name']))
{
if (is_array($files['tmp_name']))
{
foreach($files['name'] as $idx => $name)
{
$ret[$idx] = array(
'name' => $name,
'tmp_name' => $files['tmp_name'][$idx],
'size' => $files['size'][$idx],
'type' => $files['type'][$idx],
'error' => $files['error'][$idx]
);
}
}
else
{
$ret = $files;
}
}
else
{
foreach ($files as $key => $value)
{
$ret[$key] = self::fixGlobalFilesArray($value);
}
}
return $ret;
}
?>