move_uploaded_file

(PHP 4 >= 4.0.3, PHP 5, PHP 7)

move_uploaded_file — Moves an uploaded file to a new location

Description

bool move_uploaded_file ( string $filename , string $destination )

This function checks to ensure that the file designated by filename is a valid upload file (meaning that it was uploaded via PHP's HTTP POST upload mechanism). If the file is valid, it will be moved to the filename given by destination.

This sort of check is especially important if there is any chance that anything done with uploaded files could reveal their contents to the user, or even to other users on the same system.

Parameters

filename: The filename of the uploaded file.
destination: The destination of the moved file.

Return Values

Returns TRUE on success.

If filename is not a valid upload file, then no action will occur, and move_uploaded_file() will return FALSE.

If filename is a valid upload file, but cannot be moved for some reason, no action will occur, and move_uploaded_file() will return FALSE. Additionally, a warning will be issued.

Examples

Example #1 Uploading multiple files


<?php
$uploads_dir = '/uploads';
foreach ($_FILES["pictures"]["error"] as $key => $error) {
    if ($error == UPLOAD_ERR_OK) {
        $tmp_name = $_FILES["pictures"]["tmp_name"][$key];
        $name = $_FILES["pictures"]["name"][$key];
        move_uploaded_file($tmp_name, "$uploads_dir/$name");
    }
}
?>

Notes

Note:
move_uploaded_file() is both safe mode and open_basedir aware. However, restrictions are placed only on the destination path as to allow the moving of uploaded files in which filename may conflict with such restrictions. move_uploaded_file() ensures the safety of this operation by allowing only those files uploaded through PHP to be moved.

Warning

If the destination file already exists, it will be overwritten.

User Contributed Notes

Yousef Ismaeil Cliprz

3 years ago


Security tips you must know before use this function :

First : make sure that the file is not empty.

Second : make sure the file name in English characters, numbers and (_-.) symbols, For more protection.

You can use below function as in example

<?php

/**
 * Check $_FILES[][name]
 *
 * @param (string) $filename - Uploaded file name.
 * @author Yousef Ismaeil Cliprz
 */
function check_file_uploaded_name ($filename)
{
    (bool) ((preg_match("`^[-0-9A-Z_\.]+$`i",$filename)) ? true : false);
}

?>

Third : make sure that the file name not bigger than 250 characters.

as in example :

<?php

/**
 * Check $_FILES[][name] length.
 *
 * @param (string) $filename - Uploaded file name.
 * @author Yousef Ismaeil Cliprz.
 */
function check_file_uploaded_length ($filename)
{
    return (bool) ((mb_strlen($filename,"UTF-8") > 225) ? true : false);
}

?>

Fourth: Check File extensions and Mime Types that you want to allow in your project. You can use : pathinfo() http://php.net/pathinfo

or you can use regular expression for check File extensions as in example

#^(gif|jpg|jpeg|jpe|png)$#i

or use in_array checking as

<?php

$ext_type = array('gif','jpg','jpe','jpeg','png');

?>

You have multi choices to checking extensions and Mime types.

Fifth: Check file size and make sure the limit of php.ini to upload files is what you want, You can start from http://www.php.net/manual/en/ini.core.php#ini.file-uploads

And last but not least : Check the file content if have a bad codes or something like this function http://php.net/manual/en/function.file-get-contents.php.

You can use .htaccess to stop working some scripts as in example php file in your upload path.

use :

AddHandler cgi-script .php .pl .jsp .asp .sh .cgi
Options -ExecCGI  

Do not forget this steps for your project protection.

Dan Delaney

7 years ago


For those using PHP on Windows and IIS, you SHOULD set the "upload_tmp_dir" value in php.ini to some directory around where your websites directory is, create that directory, and then set the same permissions on it that you have set for your websites directory. Otherwise, when you upload a file and it goes into C:\WINDOWS\Temp, then you move it to your website directory, its permissions will NOT be set correctly. This will cause you problems if you then want to manipulate that file with something like ImageMagick's convert utility.

nlgordon at iastate dot edu

8 years ago


Just a helpful comment.  If you have open_basedir set then you must set upload_tmp_dir to somewhere within the open_basedir.  Otherwise the file upload will be denied.  move_uploaded_file might be open_basedir aware, but the rest of the upload process isn't.

matthias dot dailey at gmail dot com

4 years ago


The destination directory must exist; move_uploaded_file() will not automatically create it for you.

Rob Szarka

9 years ago


Apparently the warning above might better be written "If the destination file already exists, it will be overwritten ... regardless of the destination file's permissions."

In other words, move_uploaded_file() executes as if it's root, not the user under which the web server is operating or the owner of the script that's executing.

brentwientjes at NOSPAM dot comcast dot net

6 years ago


I have for a couple of years been stymed to understand how to effectively load images (of more than 2MB) and then create thumbnails.  My note below on general file uploading was an early hint of some of the system default limitations and I have recently discovered the final limit  I offer this as an example of the various missing pieces of information to successfully load images of more than 2MB and then create thumbnails.  This particular example assumes a picture of a user is being uploaded and because of browser caching needs a unique number at the end to make the browser load a new picture for review at the time of upload.  The overall calling program I am using is a Flex based application which calls this php file to upload user thumbnails.

The secret sauce is:

1.  adjust server memory size, file upload size, and post size
2.  convert image to standard formate (in this case jpg) and scale

The server may be adjusted with the .htaccess file or inline code.  This example has an .htaccess file with file upload size and post size and then inline code for dynamic system memory.

htaccess file:
php_value post_max_size 16M
php_value upload_max_filesize 6M

<?php 
//  $img_base = base directory structure for thumbnail images
//  $w_dst = maximum width of thumbnail
//  $h_dst = maximum height of thumbnail
//  $n_img = new thumbnail name
//  $o_img = old thumbnail name
function convertPic($img_base, $w_dst, $h_dst, $n_img, $o_img)
  {ini_set('memory_limit', '100M');   //  handle large images
   unlink($img_base.$n_img);         //  remove old images if present
   unlink($img_base.$o_img);
   $new_img = $img_base.$n_img;
     
   $file_src = $img_base."img.jpg";  //  temporary safe image storage
   unlink($file_src);
   move_uploaded_file($_FILES['Filedata']['tmp_name'], $file_src);
              
   list($w_src, $h_src, $type) = getimagesize($file_src);     // create new dimensions, keeping aspect ratio
   $ratio = $w_src/$h_src;
   if ($w_dst/$h_dst > $ratio) {$w_dst = floor($h_dst*$ratio);} else {$h_dst = floor($w_dst/$ratio);}

   switch ($type)
     {case 1:   //   gif -> jpg
        $img_src = imagecreatefromgif($file_src);
        break;
      case 2:   //   jpeg -> jpg
        $img_src = imagecreatefromjpeg($file_src); 
        break;
      case 3:  //   png -> jpg
        $img_src = imagecreatefrompng($file_src);
        break;
     }
   $img_dst = imagecreatetruecolor($w_dst, $h_dst);  //  resample
   
   imagecopyresampled($img_dst, $img_src, 0, 0, 0, 0, $w_dst, $h_dst, $w_src, $h_src);
   imagejpeg($img_dst, $new_img);    //  save new image

   unlink($file_src);  //  clean up image storage
   imagedestroy($img_src);        
   imagedestroy($img_dst);
  }

$p_id = (Integer) $_POST[uid];
$ver = (Integer) $_POST[ver];
$delver = (Integer) $_POST[delver];
convertPic("your/file/structure/", 150, 150, "u".$p_id."v".$ver.".jpg", "u".$p_id."v".$delver.".jpg");

?>

jest3r at mtonic dot net

10 years ago


It seems that move_uploaded_file use the GROUP permissions of the parent directory of the tmp file location, whereas a simple "copy" uses the group of the apache process. This could create a security nighmare if your tmp file location is owned by root:wheel

sauron at nospam on morannon dot org

12 years ago


An extension only does not really tell you what type of file it really is. I can easily rename a .jpg file to a .zip file and make the server think it is a ZIP file with webmaster kobrasrealm's code.

A better way is to use the Linux utility "file" to determine the file type. Although I'm aware that some users might use Windows on their webservers, I thought it's worth  mentioning the utility here. Using the backtick operators and preg_matches on the output, you can easily determine the file type safely, and fix the extension when necessary.

marcelwoo

4 years ago


One more thing I want to mention about the post_max_size setting in php.ini that nobody else has mentioned.
If you try to upload a file larger than the post_max_size value (or multi files), the page will only refresh itself and no errors are thrown. It took me a while to figure the reason out.

shacker at birdhouse dot org

9 years ago


If you're dealing with files uploaded through some external FTP source and need to move them to a final destination, searching php.net for "mv" or "move" won't get you what you want. You want the rename() function. 

http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.rename.php

(move_uploaded_file() won't work, since the POST vars won't be present.)

Tom

1 year ago


Nowhere does it say how to get the error/warning message when this fails.

The only way I know of doing it is something like this:

   if (move_uploaded_file($_FILES["file1"]["tmp_name"], $target_file)) {
      echo "<P>FILE UPLOADED TO: $target_file</P>";
   } else {
      echo "<P>MOVE UPLOADED FILE FAILED!</P>";
      print_r(error_get_last());
   }

Mark Kazemier

7 years ago


I have the same problem as the person two comments below me. When I use the move_uploaded_file function the permissions for the file are set to 0600. No matter what configurations you set.

I searched the internet and I found more people with the same problems, but no solutions. I set the umask of apache to 013 and still the files were set to 0600. 

The copy function solves the problem. Another way to solve this problem is using the chmod function after uploading.

jphansen at uga dot edu

8 years ago


I was getting error code 1 (http://www.php.net/manual/en/features.file-upload.errors.php), indicating that the file exceeded upload_max_filesize. To fix this, run <?php ini_set("upload_max_filesize", "100M"); ?> (then restart apache) changing the second argument to your limit.

bogusred

8 years ago


If you have a directory in a *nix environment where you store all of your file uploads and your php script only seems to work when permissions for that directory are set to 777, here's how to fix it so that you can have the security benefits of 755 while still allowing your php scripts to work, including the move_uploaded_file().

through shell access, navigate to the directory that contains your uploads folder and run the following 2 commands:
chown -R nobody uploaddir
chmod -R 755 uploaddir

Replace 'uploaddir' with the name of your uploads directory. The first command changes the owner of the directory and files to 'nobody' which is what php operates under. The second changes the folder and files to only allow user access to writing. This is much more secure.

Hopefully this will help someone out there who had the same problem as me.

sergeygrinev at mail dot ru

10 years ago


small typo:

$fulldest = $dest.$newfilename;

show be

$fulldest = $dest.$filename;

or you would have infinite loop.

ineedmynetwork.com

10 years ago


Microsoft returns image/pjpeg not image/jpg when using $_FILES['imageName']['type'];

mikelone

10 years ago


If the user try to upload a too bigger file then the upload procedure will fail even if u have established an error message.
How to avoid this problem? there's my solution:

(max_file_size = 2,50 MB)

$fsize = $_FILES["userfile"]["size"];

if($fsize == 0 || $fsize > 2621000) exit("keep the filesize under 2,50MB!!");

When the size is bigger than the MAX_FILE_SIZE field, the value of $fsize is equal to 0 (zero) ......

mancow at macfilez dot net

10 years ago


To nouncad at mayetlite dot com,

That function will work fine for files with a 3-character file extension.  However, it is worth noting that there are valid, registered file extensions that are longer than 3 characters.  For example, a JPEG file can be denoted by *.jpg (and others), but it can also have *.jpeg as a valid extension.  Check out http://www.filext.com/ for a good reference of file extensions.

The best bet to me would be parsing the uploaded file's name ($_FILES['uploadedfile']['name']) based on the presence of dots.  Another wrench in the gears:  a file can have dots in the filename.  That's easy enough to handle -- just explode() the file name and hope that the last element in the array it gives you is the file extension (you can always validate it if you're so inclined).  Then just piece it together in a string accordingly by stepping through the array (don't forget to add those dots back to where they were!), appending a guaranteed unique string of characters (or enumerate it like you were doing, keeping track via a loop), and finally tacking on the file extension.

You may have other mechanisms for verifying a file's extension, such as a preg_match on the whole name, using something like "/\\.(gif|jpg|jpeg|png|bmp)$/i" (more can, of course, be added if you so desire) for the most common types of images found on the web.

For blindly guaranteeing an uploaded file will be uniquely named, this seems like a fantastic way to go.  Enjoy!

AT-HE (at_he AT hotm4il DOT com)

10 years ago


---------
Note that post_max_size also needs to be considered, by default it is 8M. I raised my upload_max_filesize to 20M and was wondering why 10M uploads weren't working...

r: It could be because of your max execution time.
----------

try changing the value of both post_max_size and upload_max_filesize

espiao at gmail dot com

10 years ago


/**
 * This function moves the archives and directoryes of a directory of
 * origin for a directory destination being able replace them or not.
 **/

function mvdir($oldDir, $newDir, $replaceFiles = true) {

    if ($oldDir == $newDir) {
        trigger_error("Destination directory is equal of origin.");
        return false;
    }
        
    if (!($tmpDir = opendir($oldDir))) {
        trigger_error("It was not possible to open origin directory.");
        return false;
    }

    if (!is_dir($newDir)) {
        trigger_error("It was not possible to open destination directory.");
        return false;        
    }

    while (($file = readdir($tmpDir)) !== false) {

        if (($file != ".") && ($file !== "..")) {
            
            $oldFileWithDir = $oldDir . $file;
            $newFileWithDir = $newDir . $file;
            
            if (is_dir($oldFileWithDir)) {
                
                @mkdir($newFileWithDir."/", 0777);
                @mvdir($oldFileWithDir."/", $newFileWithDir."/", $replaceFiles);
                @rmdir($oldFileWithDir);

            }
            else {
                if (file_exists($newFileWithDir)) {
                    if (!$replaceFiles) {
                        
                        @unlink($oldFileWithDir);
                        continue;
                        
                    }
                }
                
                @unlink($newFileWithDir);
                @copy($oldFileWithDir, $newFileWithDir);
                @chmod($newFileWithDir, 0777);
                @unlink($oldFileWithDir);
                
            } 
        }
    }
    
    return true;
    
}

/**
 * This is an example of move with replace files on destination folder if 
 * exists files with the same names on destionatio folder
 **/
mvdir("/var/www/example/", "/var/www/other_folder/");

/**
 * This is an example of move without replace files on destination
 * folder if  exists files with the same names on destionatio folder
 **/
mvdir("/var/www/example/", "/var/www/other_folder/", false);

Zarel

10 years ago


nouncad at mayetlite dot com posted a function that uploaded a file, and would rename it if it already existed, to filename[n].ext

It only worked for files with extensions exactly three letters long, so I fixed that (and made a few other improvements while I was at it).

<?php
// Usage: uploadfile($_FILE['file']['name'],'temp/',$_FILE['file']['tmp_name'])
function uploadfile($origin, $dest, $tmp_name)
{
  $origin = strtolower(basename($origin));
  $fulldest = $dest.$origin;
  $filename = $origin;
  for ($i=1; file_exists($fulldest); $i++)
  {
    $fileext = (strpos($origin,'.')===false?'':'.'.substr(strrchr($origin, "."), 1));
    $filename = substr($origin, 0, strlen($origin)-strlen($fileext)).'['.$i.']'.$fileext;
    $fulldest = $dest.$newfilename;
  }
  
  if (move_uploaded_file($tmp_name, $fulldest))
    return $filename;
  return false;
}
?>

wilcobeekhuizen at gmail dot com

5 years ago


When uploading a file with a very long filename, for example 255 characters, move_uploaded_file fails. The longest file I've succesfully uploaded has a 247 character filename. So, although you can create a 250 character filename locally the server may not be able to move it.

booc0mtaco at gmail dot com

9 years ago


Also, make sure that the setting for the post_max_size allows for a proper file size range.

post_max_size = 128M ; Expands the size of POST data for file uploads

gotrunko at hotmail dot com

6 years ago


This function can upload many files whitout parameters in the declaration.
If one of them can not be uploaded, the function returns false and deletes all files that have been sent

<?php
function uploadFiles() {
    $num_args = func_num_args();
    $arg_list = func_get_args();
    
    $valReturn = false;
    $i = 0;
    $unlinkElement = array();
    foreach($arg_list as $key=>$value) {
        if(is_array($value) AND is_array($value[0])) {
            if($value[0]['error'] == 0 AND isset($value[1])) {
                if($value[0]['size'] > 0 AND $value[0]['size'] < 500000) {
                    $typeAccepted = array("image/jpeg", "image/gif", "image/png");
                    if(in_array($value[0]['type'],$typeAccepted)) {    
                        $destination = $value[1];
                        if(isset($value[2])) {
                            $extension = substr($value[0]['name'] , strrpos($value[0]['name'] , '.') +1);
                            $destination .= (str_replace(" ","-",$value[2])).".".$extension;
                        } else {
                            $destination .= $value[0]['name'];
                        }
                        
                        if(move_uploaded_file($value[0]['tmp_name'],$destination)) {
                            $i++;
                            $unlinkElement[] = $destination;
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
    if($i == $num_args) {
        $valReturn = true;
    } else {
        foreach($unlinkElement as $value) {
            unlink($value);
        }
    }
    return $valReturn;
}
?>

To use this function you must specify an array with min two parameters like that. 
NAME is an optional parameter !
uploadFiles(array("FILES","DESTINATION","NAME"));

<?php

$file_one = array($_FILES['file_one'],$destination,$name_one);
$file_two = array($_FILES['file_two'],$destination); //The name will be the same that $_FILES[]['name']

if(uploadFiles($file_one,$file_two)) {
    echo "true";
} else {
    echo "false";
}
?>

Ray.Paseur sometimes uses Gmail

5 years ago


You can only move the uploaded file once.  You can use copy() if you need the file in more than one place.
<?php // RAY_temp_upload_example.php
error_reporting(E_ALL);
echo "<pre>" . PHP_EOL;

// IF A FILE HAS BEEN UPLOADED
if (!empty($_FILES))
{
    // SHOW THE UPLOADED FILES
    print_r($_FILES);

    // TRY TO MOVE THE FILE TWICE - SECOND MOVE RETURNS FALSE
    if (!move_uploaded_file($_FILES["userfile"]["tmp_name"], $_FILES["userfile"]["name"])) echo "CANNOT MOVE {$_FILES["userfile"]["name"]}" . PHP_EOL;
    if (!move_uploaded_file($_FILES["userfile"]["tmp_name"], $_FILES["userfile"]["name"])) echo "CANNOT MOVE {$_FILES["userfile"]["name"]}" . PHP_EOL;

    // SHOW THE UPLOADED FILES AFTER THE MOVE - NO VISIBLE CHANGE
    print_r($_FILES);
}

// END OF PHP, PUT UP THE HTML FORM TO GET THE FILE
?>
<!-- The data encoding type, enctype, MUST be specified as below -->
<form enctype="multipart/form-data" method="POST">
    <!-- MAX_FILE_SIZE must precede the file input field -->
    <input type="hidden" name="MAX_FILE_SIZE" value="300000" />
    <!-- Name of input element determines name in $_FILES array -->
    Send this file: <input name="userfile" type="file" />
    <input type="submit" value="Send File" />
</form>

agan0052 at hotmail dot com

7 years ago


<?php 

if(isset($_FILES['uploaded'])){
$target = "galleries/".basename($_FILES['uploaded']['name']) ;
print_r($_FILES);

if(move_uploaded_file($_FILES['uploaded']['tmp_name'],$target)) echo "OK!";//$chmod o+rw galleries

}
else{
 echo "<form enctype='multipart/form-data' action='CodeTool.php' method='POST'>";
 echo "File:<input name='uploaded' type='file'/><input type='submit' value='Upload'/>";
 echo "</form>";
}

?>

info at arpadh dot hu

8 years ago


Values upload_max_filesize and post_max_size (ie. php.ini values) cannot be modified in runtime with ini_set() function.
If you are using Apache web server, use .htaccess files with an IfModule replacing values corresponding to your file size and PHP version:

<IfModule mod_php4.c>
php_value upload_max_filesize 50M
php_value post_max_size 50M
</IfModule>

- means 50MB upload limit.

Harmor

9 years ago


the dot only dot storm at gmail dot com wrote:
>
> In addition to the file extension checking. A simply way
> of getting the extension (regardless of size):
> 
> $efilename = explode('.', $filename);
> $ext = $efilename[count($efilename) - 1];
>

How about:

$ext = end(explode('.',$filename));

guy at neonxero dot net

9 years ago


I could be wrong, but I usualy use 

$uploadext = strtolower(strrchr($imagename,"."));

to find the file extension when uploading, as opposed to explode().

Anonymous

9 years ago


If you find that large files do not upload in PHP even though you've changed the max_upload_size , this is because you need to change the max memory size varible too. The entire file is loaded into memory before it is saved to disk.

Florian S. in H. an der E. [.de]

7 years ago


move_uploaded_file (on my setup) always makes files 0600 ("rw- --- ---") and owned by the user running the webserver (owner AND group).
Even though the directory has a sticky bit set to the group permissions!
I couldn't find any settings to change this via php.ini or even using "umask()".

I want my regular user on the server to be able to "tar cjf" the directory .. which would fail on files totally owned by the webserver-process-user;
the "copy(from, to)" function obeys the sticky-bit though!

dev at rising9 dot com

9 years ago


Can you explain more, how i can change the max memory size varible for the large file can work with move_uploaded_file()?
Thanks a lot!

calamitoso at gmail dot com

10 years ago


to separate (for example) images from other file types among the uploaded files you can check the MIME type also (thus making the file extension check unnecessary)

$temp = strpos($_FILES["pic"]["type"], "image");
if ($rep===FALSE){
   //the strpos function will return a boolean "false" ONLY if the needle string is not found within the haystack
   echo "is not an image";
}else{
   echo "is an image";
}

iim dot vxk at gmail dot com

8 years ago


when you get this 2 Warnings - paths are a real sample - ::

-
move_uploaded_file(/uploads/images/sample.png) [function.move-uploaded-file]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /scripts/php/system/upload-file.php on line X
-

and

-
move_uploaded_file() [function.move-uploaded-file]: Unable to move '/tmp/somefilename' to '/uploads/images/sample.png' in /scripts/php/system/upload-file.php on line X
-

probably the path '/uploads/images/sample.png' is incomplete, in my case the complet path is "/home/x-user/public_html/uploads/images/sample.png"

you can use getcwd() to know the current working directory.

:)

allan666 at NOSPAM dot gmail dot com

11 years ago


On the Fedora Core 3 Linux distribution, you may get a "failed to open stream: Permission denied in ..." message. I fact changing the permission of the directory will not work (even if you set to 0777). It is because of the new SELinux kernel that allow apache user to write only in /tmp dir (I think). In order to solve the problem you must to disable the SELinux (at least for apache service) to allow the server to write in other directories. To do that, run the system-config-securitylevel app and disable the SE to apache service. Reboot your system and continue your work. Hope it helps!

Anonymous

12 years ago


The example to find file extension bellow is quite confusing and its using to much code for a much simpler solution. Which is in example:

$file_parts = pathinfo('dir/' . $_FILES['file']['name']);
$file_extension = strtolower($file_parts['extension']);

The 'dir/' part is only to get a valid path.

labsy at seznam dot org

4 years ago


A note for PHP on Windows IIS platform:
PHP does obviously not like directory traversing among partitions, so if you set upload_tmp_dir to be on different partition as php-cgi.exe or php.exe is, upload_tmp_dir will NOT be accessible for file uploads! You will get ERROR 6 on any attempt to upload file, and file size will be 0.
Resolution is to have upload_tmp_dir set to a path under PHP install folder.
...and make sure this folder (and also session_save_path folder) has at least read/write permissions granted to AppPool owner (usually NETWORK SERVICE) and IIS web user (by default IUSR_).

chatchaw at tot dot co dot th

6 years ago


When you use move_uploaded_file function to upload a file with utf-8  filename to linux system, you probably check your result by browsing to see the file in the target directory so please make sure that your terminal emulator or your samba configuration is set the character encoding to utf-8 otherwise  your file will be shown as ?????? (unreadable character).

brentwientjes at NOSPAM dot comast dot net

6 years ago


I have looked at a lot of the file upload code listed below and other php documentation and have developed hopefully a robust single file upload routine.  I will later update with a multi file upload.  I have modestly tested the code.



<?php

//  5MB maximum file size

$MAXIMUM_FILESIZE = 5 * 1024 * 1024;

//  Valid file extensions (images, word, excel, powerpoint)

$rEFileTypes = 

  "/^\.(jpg|jpeg|gif|png|doc|docx|txt|rtf|pdf|xls|xlsx|

        ppt|pptx){1}$/i";

$dir_base = "/your/file/location/";



$isFile = is_uploaded_file($_FILES['Filedata']['tmp_name']);

if ($isFile)    //  do we have a file?

   {//  sanatize file name

    //     - remove extra spaces/convert to _, 

    //     - remove non 0-9a-Z._- characters,

    //     - remove leading/trailing spaces

    //  check if under 5MB, 

    //  check file extension for legal file types

    $safe_filename = preg_replace(

                     array("/\s+/", "/[^-\.\w]+/"), 

                     array("_", ""), 

                     trim($_FILES['Filedata']['name']));

    if ($_FILES['Filedata']['size'] <= $MAXIMUM_FILESIZE && 

        preg_match($rEFileTypes, strrchr($safe_filename, '.')))

      {$isMove = move_uploaded_file (

                 $_FILES['Filedata']['tmp_name'], 

                 $dir_base.$safe_filename);}

      }

   } 

?>



I use $isFile and $isMove later in the code for error recording.



Make sure your system has the appropriate file loading limits. This caused a lot of headeaches trying to figure out why some files loaded and some did not.   In my case I have an .htaccess file in the root of the web site with:



php_value post_max_size 16M

php_value upload_max_filesize 6M



You may also need to extend the execution time depending upon the amount of data being transferred.



(sorry if spacing of code is a little off.  it was hard to make the note editor like the code style.)

masahigo at gmail dot com

8 years ago


I found a great resource concerning uploads with PHP:

http://www.radinks.com/upload/config.php

They explain and tell how to optimize PHP installation to handle large file uploads. Helped me a lot!

Michel S

11 years ago


I once had a problem with this function. File was uploaded correctly, but I still had to chmod the file afterwards. It could not be used otherwise.

Michel S

adam at darkhousemedia dot com

10 years ago


To retrieve the file extension, I think this example makes more sense than the one below.  

$ext = explode(".", $file);
$ext = array_pop($ext);

It doesn't have to count() the array and then subtract 1 to point to the proper array element, it simply isolates the last element of the array, and discards everything else.

froid_nordik at sympatico dot ca

11 years ago


Make sure the directory you are moving the file to exists before using this command.

Chris Hecker

1 year ago


Re: Florian S. in H. an der E. [.de]'s point about directory stick bits, I got hit by this a bunch since I use groups and dir sticky bits to secure my site, so I wrote this replacement, which others might find useful:

/**
 * obey sticky bit with move_uploaded_file
 *
 */
function wp_move_uploaded_file( $filename, $destination ) {
  define("STICKYGRPDIR",042010);
  $stat = stat(dirname($destination));
  if(move_uploaded_file($filename,$destination)) {
    if($stat['mode'] & STICKYGRPDIR) {
      return chgrp($destination,$stat['gid']);
    }
  } else {
    return false;
  }
}

jessy dot diamondman at gmail dot com

10 years ago


I am pretty new, and am having upload problems myself, but I think I can help out ffproberen2 at dodgeit dot com with his premission denied errors. I had these two, and I had to change the upload directory, not the tmp_upload_dir or what ever it is called. The move_uploaded_file meathod takes an upload location as the last parameter. I am running a bundled package of Apache, Php, mySQL and so on, and on mine, specifing a directory of '' will upload it into C:\Program Files\xampp\apache (my PC is my experimental server, I will get linux, but got to obtain it and internet cuts off after 196mb so can't download it) even though php file is in C:\Program Files\xampp\htdocs\xampp\jessyexum\upload_client.php. 

This is a code that I found and then modified, hope it can help. It dosn't always upload every file type giving me an error #2.

<?php
$uploaddir = '';
$uploadfile = $uploaddir . basename($_FILES['upfile']['name']);
echo '<pre>';
if (move_uploaded_file($_FILES['upfile']['tmp_name'], $uploadfile)) {
   echo "File is valid, and was successfully uploaded.\n";
} else {
   echo "Possible file upload attack!\n";
}
echo 'Here is some more debugging info:';
print_r($_FILES);
print "</pre>";
?>

Antoine

7 years ago


I had exactly than" tnp at shaman dot co dot uk" : move_uploaded_file() is either asynchronous or uses some kind of virtual filesystem. But you may encounter big problems when trying to access a file just uploaded, especially is you tried to change the name.
If you have problems where the uploaded file seems unaccessible, try to use copy() instead.

omgmain at gmail dot com

7 years ago


This function should run perfectly, but just in case there are errors, this should help.
1 : Check that the syntax is correct. Remember, lines end with ;
2 : Make sure that the file you're moving exists, and that the place you're writing to is...well, writable. Sometimes, for instance with mac, they make the file so that it can only be accessed by the system, and you. You need to make it available for everyone.
3 : Make sure that the file size of the file you're uploading is under the max upload size. You can change the allowed file size on the php.ini file. The default value is 2M (M as in Megabytes). Also make sure that uploading is allowed
---
If you don't have any errors, then give yourself a pat on the back. BUT, to make your script more secure, put in your file:
str_replace('.', '', $_FILES['file name']['name']);
str_replace('/', '', $_FILES['file name']['name']);
Replace file name with the file name, and you're good to go!

Anonymous

10 years ago


[quote]
Note that post_max_size also needs to be considered, by default it is 8M. I raised my upload_max_filesize to 20M and was wondering why 10M uploads weren't working... 
[/quote]

It could be because of your max execution time.

j dot m dot thomas at NOSPAM dot blueyonder dot co dot uk

10 years ago


To retrieve the file extension, and various other information about the path, it is easiest to use the pathinfo function.

<?php
$path_parts = pathinfo('/www/htdocs/index.html');

echo $path_parts['dirname'], "\n";
echo $path_parts['basename'], "\n";
echo $path_parts['extension'], "\n";
?>

Would produce:

/www/htdocs
index.html
html

http://uk.php.net/manual/en/function.pathinfo.php

nouncad at mayetlite dot com

10 years ago


Great!! my first note here...

This function upload a file.
If file exist, create a copy as "filename[n].ext"

<?php 
function subirFichero($origen, $destinoDir, $ftemporal) {    
    $origen = strtolower(basename($origen));

    $destinoFull = $destinoDir.$origen;
    $frand = $origen;
    $i = 1;
    
    while (file_exists( $destinoFull )) {
        $file_name         = substr($origen, 0, strlen($origen)-4);
        $file_extension  = substr($origen, strlen($origen)-4, strlen($origen));
        $frand = $file_name."[$i]".$file_extension;
        $destinoFull = $destinoDir.$frand;
        $i++;
    }
    
    if (move_uploaded_file($ftemporal, $destinoFull))    return $frand;
    else                                                 return "0";
}
?>

user at php dot net

11 years ago


Giving the directory 777 permission is not a good idea for security reasons, it would be better to create the directory using "mkdir()".

That will make php user (usually "nobody") the owner of the directory, and permissions will not be a problem.

mail at johan dot it

12 years ago


Warning: If you save a md5_file hash in a database to keep record of uploaded files, which is usefull to prevent users from uploading the same file twice, be aware that after using move_uploaded_file the md5_file hash changes! And you are unable to find the corresponding hash and delete it in the database, when a file is deleted.

move_uploaded_file

Description

Parameters

Return Values

Examples

Notes

See Also

User Contributed Notes