Bug #79486 [Com]: file_exists() returns true for a non-existant file

Edit report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=79486&edit=1 ID: 79486 Comment by: m dot staab at complex-it dot de Reported by: m dot staab at complex-it dot de Summary: file_exists() returns true for a non-existant file Status: Open Type: Bug Package: *General Issues Operating System: windows10 x64 PHP Version: 7.4.5 Block user comment: N Private report: N New Comment: when adding ``` file_get_contents($path . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . $file) ``` after the line which returns ``` file_exists($path . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . $file) == true ``` file_get_contents() will return false also tested ``` var_dump(is_dir($path . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . $file)); // false var_dump(is_file($path . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . $file)); // true var_dump(is_link($path . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . $file)); // false ``` Previous Comments: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2020-04-17 12:14:12] m dot staab at complex-it dot de Description: ------------ I am running into a mysterious problem, where php's file_exists() returns TRUE for a path, where no file exists. I tried opening the filepath via notepad++ or the windows explorer, and every tool is telling me that the path points to a non-existant file... except php.. putting the offending path into a plain 3 lines php file it reports false though. since its really hard to reproduce (even when copying the paths 1:1) it might be a deeper php issue, e.g. opcache statcache or similar. I tried invoking clearstatcache() before the file_exists() but this does not change the output Test script: --------------- error not reproducible with ``` <?php var_dump(file_exists('C:\Users\mstaab\Documents\GitHub\kunzmann\app\shop\models\clxBaureihe.php')); ``` but at runtime when my sources look like things look different foreach (array( self::$model_paths, self::$lib_paths, self::$helper_paths, self::$controller_paths, self::$plugin_paths ) as $paths) { foreach ($paths as $path => $dummyVal) { if (file_exists($path . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . $file)) { if ($class_name == 'clxBaureihe') { var_dump($class_name); // "clxBaureihe" var_dump($path); // "C:\Users\mstaab\Documents\GitHub\kunzmann/app/shop/models" var_dump($file); // "clxBaureihe.php" var_dump($path . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . $file); // "C:\Users\mstaab\Documents\GitHub\kunzmann/app/shop/models\clxBaureihe.php" var_dump(file_exists($path . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . $file)); // bool(true) } Expected result: ---------------- file_exists() should return false on non-existing files Actual result: -------------- it returns true ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Edit this bug report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=79486&edit=1