is_file
@radon8472 at hotmail dot com
The windows .lnk-things are real files, the explorer only treats them like links. Try to open one with Win+R->"notepad X:\Path\Visiblefilename.lnk You will see much 0-Bytes, but the linked path is displayed right on the screen. It should be possible to do the same by php.
is_link
(PHP 4, PHP 5)
is_link — Tells whether the filename is a symbolic link
Description
bool is_link
( string
$filename
)Tells whether the given file is a symbolic link.
Parameters
-
filename -
Path to the file.
Return Values
Returns TRUE if the filename exists and is a symbolic link, FALSE
otherwise.
Examples
Example #1 Create and confirm if a file is a symbolic link
<?php
$link = 'uploads';
if (is_link($link)) {
echo(readlink($link));
} else {
symlink('uploads.php', $link);
}
?>
Errors/Exceptions
Upon failure, an E_WARNING is emitted.
Notes
Note: The results of this function are cached. See clearstatcache() for more details.
Tip
As of PHP 5.0.0, this function can also be used with some URL wrappers. Refer to Supported Protocols and Wrappers to determine which wrappers support stat() family of functionality.
See Also
- is_dir() - Tells whether the filename is a directory
- is_file() - Tells whether the filename is a regular file
- readlink() - Returns the target of a symbolic link
add a note
User Contributed Notes
is_link - [9 notes]
foobarfarter ¶
4 years ago
neverpanic->gmail[com] ¶
6 years ago
For me (Debian Sarge VPS) is_link returns true even for directories if you don't add a trailing slash to the filename.
<?php
if ($dir{strlen($dir)-1} == '/') $dir = substr($dir, 0, -1);
is_link($dir);
?>
This works for me. It can't detect a symlink somewhere in a complete path, though (i.e. is_link(/www/somedir/file.php) will return false, just as is_link(/www/) would)
PaulE ¶
4 years ago
A workaround for Windows LNK files:
<?php
function _is_link($filename)
{
if(is_link($filename))
return true;
$ext = substr(strrchr($filename, '.'), 1);
if(strtolower($ext) == 'lnk')
{
return (_readlink($filename) ? true : false);
}
return false;
}
function _readlink($file)
{
if(file_exists($file))
{
if(is_link($file))
{
return readlink($file);
}
// Get file content
$handle = fopen($file, "rb");
$buffer = array();
while(!feof($handle))
{
$buffer[] = fread($handle, 1);
}
fclose($handle);
// Test magic value and GUID
if(count($buffer) < 20)
return false;
if($buffer[0] != 'L')
return false;
if((ord($buffer[4]) != 0x01) ||
(ord($buffer[5]) != 0x14) ||
(ord($buffer[6]) != 0x02) ||
(ord($buffer[7]) != 0x00) ||
(ord($buffer[8]) != 0x00) ||
(ord($buffer[9]) != 0x00) ||
(ord($buffer[10]) != 0x00) ||
(ord($buffer[11]) != 0x00) ||
(ord($buffer[12]) != 0xC0) ||
(ord($buffer[13]) != 0x00) ||
(ord($buffer[14]) != 0x00) ||
(ord($buffer[15]) != 0x00) ||
(ord($buffer[16]) != 0x00) ||
(ord($buffer[17]) != 0x00) ||
(ord($buffer[18]) != 0x00) ||
(ord($buffer[19]) != 0x46))
{
return false;
}
$i = 20;
if(count($buffer) < ($i + 4))
return false;
$flags = ord($buffer[$i]);
$flags = $flags | (ord($buffer[++$i]) << 8);
$flags = $flags | (ord($buffer[++$i]) << 16);
$flags = $flags | (ord($buffer[++$i]) << 24);
$hasShellItemIdList = ($flags & 0x00000001) ? true : false;
$pointsToFileOrDir = ($flags & 0x00000002) ? true : false;
if(!$pointsToFileOrDir)
return false;
if($hasShellItemIdList)
{
$i = 76;
if(count($buffer) < ($i + 2))
return false;
$a = ord($buffer[$i]);
$a = $a | (ord($buffer[++$i]) << 8);
}
$i = 78 + 4 + $a;
if(count($buffer) < ($i + 4))
return false;
$b = ord($buffer[$i]);
$b = $b | (ord($buffer[++$i]) << 8);
$b = $b | (ord($buffer[++$i]) << 16);
$b = $b | (ord($buffer[++$i]) << 24);
$i = 78 + $a + $b;
if(count($buffer) < ($i + 4))
return false;
$c = ord($buffer[$i]);
$c = $c | (ord($buffer[++$i]) << 8);
$c = $c | (ord($buffer[++$i]) << 16);
$c = $c | (ord($buffer[++$i]) << 24);
$i = 78 + $a + $b + $c;
if(count($buffer) < ($i +1))
return false;
$linkedTarget = "";
for(;$i < count($buffer); ++$i)
{
if(!ord($buffer[$i]))
break;
$linkedTarget .= $buffer[$i];
}
if(empty($linkedTarget))
return false;
return $linkedTarget;
}
return false;
}
if(_is_link('test.lnk'))
{
echo _readlink('test.lnk');
}
?>
radon8472 at hotmail dot com ¶
4 years ago
This function returns "false" for windows *.lnk files (tested under windows XP).
filetype also returns "file" an not "link" like expected.
I didn`t find a solution for this.
mbirth at webwriters dot de ¶
5 years ago
To find out whether a file is hardlinked to another filename, check the number of links of the stat() output. If it is >1 there is another filename for that file.
To find out whether two filenames are pointing to the same file, check the inode number of those 2 filenames. If it is equal, the 2 filenames are hardlinked together.
brendy at gmail dot com ¶
7 years ago
On Mac OSX, to see if a file is a FInder alias:
<?PHP
if( getFinderAlias( $someFile , $target ) ) {
echo $target;
}
else {
echo "File is not an alias";
}
function getFinderAlias( $filename , &$target ) {
$getAliasTarget = <<< HEREDOC
-- BEGIN APPLESCRIPT --
set checkFileStr to "{$filename}"
set checkFile to checkFileStr as POSIX file
try
tell application "Finder"
if original item of file checkFile exists then
set targetFile to (original item of file checkFile) as alias
set posTargetFile to POSIX path of targetFile as text
get posTargetFile
end if
end tell
end try
-- END APPLESCRIPT --
HEREDOC;
$runText = "osascript << EOS\n{$getAliasTarget}\nEOS\n";
$target = trim( shell_exec( $runText ) );
return ( $target == "" ? false : true );
}
?>
andudi at gmx dot ch ¶
11 years ago
On my SuSE 7.2 is_link does not work on directories, but to find out, if a dir is a link, I use now this:
$linkdir = $path.$linkdirname;
if (realpath($linkdir) != realpath($path)."/".$linkdirname):
//$linkdir is a symbolic linked dir!
...
and this works fine :-)
Andreas Dick
jr at cnb dot uam dot es ¶
8 years ago
Why don't you just try
is_dir("$pathname/.")
instead?
If $pathname is a directory, $pathname/. is itself and is a directory too.
If $pathname is a link to a directory, then $pathname/. is the actual directory pointed at and is a directory as well.
If $pathname is a link to a non-directory, then $pathname/. does not exist and returns FALSE, as it should.
A lot easier, more readable and intuitive.
aris at riponce dot com ¶
12 years ago
If you test a symbolic (soft) link with is_file() it will return true. Either use filetype() which always returns the correct type OR make sure that you FIRST test with is_link() before you do with is_file() to get the correct type.