Re: file_exists and wildcard/regex

Maciek Sokolewicz wrote:

Daniel Kolbo wrote:

What is the preferred method with php to test and see if a file [pattern] exists? For example, i only need to search in one directory, that may have any number of files named such as afile1.txt, afile2.txt, afile3.txt, .... And also, bfile1.txt, bfile2.txt, bfile3.txt, ... I want to see if any such file 'family' exists. That is, i want to see if there is any file named bfile[1-9][0-9]+.txt. I don't care which bfile number exists, i just want to know if any bfile exists. I hope this is clear enough, if not let me know. thanks, dK

glob() http://www.php.net/glob How portable is glob?

How fast is glob? Being that it searches through the entire filesystem, this could potentially take a long time (like if i have wildcards early in the filepath pattern and lots of matches) correct? If my file variations (wildcards) are just at the end of of the filepaths and i don't have more than 1000 files in the directory then will I most likely be 'alright' with glob (in terms of time)? I have probably spent more time now 'considering' the time implications of glob, than glob actually would consume when operating... Thanks for the quick response/solutions. dK