problem with readdir()

Hi I'm trying to set up a CRON job, using PHP. I might do it a bit complicated: My crontab line looks like this: 00,15,30,45 * * * * /home/marc/scripts/ftp.sh I call a shell script to get rid of any output from the PHP script, hence the >/dev/null. My PHP script should read a directory to which people ftp files and mail a list of people if the directory has changed (either files have been added or removed, but nor if files have been changed). I keep a reference of the directory listing from readdir() in a file called: ftp_ref.txt Somehow I get some date-stamps into my reference file: 15-09-2000 18-09-00 That sort of stuff I can not explain and it seems to upset my script. Or do I go wrong elsewhere? Anybody see my mistake? Cheers Marc Shell Script in /home/marc/scripts/ftp.sh: home/marc/scripts/ftp.php >/dev/null PHP Script in home/marc/scripts/ftp.php: #!/home/marc/mybin/php <?php echo "started ...\n"; /* this script scans the directory $dir2check for any changes as a reference, a file $dir_ref is kept. If there are any changes, e-mails are sent to the addresses in $mail_to. */ //set variables $dir2check = "/home/ftp_bin"; $dir_ref = "/home/marc/ftp_ref.txt"; $mail_to = "marc.burgauer@stortext.com"; // Script body // read directory into $org_string $org_string = ""; $handle=opendir($dir2check); while (false!=($file = readdir($handle))) { if (($file != ".") && ($file != "..")) { $org_string .= $file."\n"; } } closedir($handle); // load the reference string $ref $ref_string = implode("\n",file($dir_ref)); if($ref_string != $org_string) { // update reference file $file_pointer = fopen($dir_ref, "w"); fwrite($file_pointer, $org_string); fclose($file_pointer); // send mails $org_string = "Result of reading directory listing:\n\n".$org_string."\n\n<EOM>\n"; echo "mail result: " . mail($mail_to,"FTP directory change",$org_string); } ?>