see http://php.net/manual/en/features.file-upload.post-method.php for documentation of the $_FILES array, which is what I came to this page for in the first place.
(PHP 4 >= 4.1.0, PHP 5, PHP 7)
$_FILES -- $HTTP_POST_FILES [deprecated] — HTTP File Upload variables
An associative array of items uploaded to the current script via the HTTP POST method.
$HTTP_POST_FILES contains the same initial information, but is not a superglobal. (Note that $HTTP_POST_FILES and $_FILES are different variables and that PHP handles them as such)
| Version | Description |
|---|---|
| 4.1.0 | Introduced $_FILES that deprecated $HTTP_POST_FILES. |
Note:
This is a 'superglobal', or automatic global, variable. This simply means that it is available in all scopes throughout a script. There is no need to do global $variable; to access it within functions or methods.
see http://php.net/manual/en/features.file-upload.post-method.php for documentation of the $_FILES array, which is what I came to this page for in the first place.
A nice trick to reorder the $_FILES array when you use a input name as array is:
<?php
function diverse_array($vector) {
$result = array();
foreach($vector as $key1 => $value1)
foreach($value1 as $key2 => $value2)
$result[$key2][$key1] = $value2;
return $result;
}
?>
will transform this:
array(1) {
["upload"]=>array(2) {
["name"]=>array(2) {
[0]=>string(9)"file0.txt"
[1]=>string(9)"file1.txt"
}
["type"]=>array(2) {
[0]=>string(10)"text/plain"
[1]=>string(10)"text/html"
}
}
}
into:
array(1) {
["upload"]=>array(2) {
[0]=>array(2) {
["name"]=>string(9)"file0.txt"
["type"]=>string(10)"text/plain"
},
[1]=>array(2) {
["name"]=>string(9)"file1.txt"
["type"]=>string(10)"text/html"
}
}
}
just do:
<?php $upload = diverse_array($_FILES["upload"]); ?>
If you are looking for the $_FILES['error'] code explanations, be sure to read:
Handling File Uploads - Error Messages Explained
http://www.php.net/manual/en/features.file-upload.errors.php
The format of this array is (assuming your form has two input type=file fields named "file1", "file2", etc):
Array
(
[file1] => Array
(
[name] => MyFile.txt (comes from the browser, so treat as tainted)
[type] => text/plain (not sure where it gets this from - assume the browser, so treat as tainted)
[tmp_name] => /tmp/php/php1h4j1o (could be anywhere on your system, depending on your config settings, but the user has no control, so this isn't tainted)
[error] => UPLOAD_ERR_OK (= 0)
[size] => 123 (the size in bytes)
)
[file2] => Array
(
[name] => MyFile.jpg
[type] => image/jpeg
[tmp_name] => /tmp/php/php6hst32
[error] => UPLOAD_ERR_OK
[size] => 98174
)
)
Last I checked (a while ago now admittedly), if you use array parameters in your forms (that is, form names ending in square brackets, like several file fields called "download[file1]", "download[file2]" etc), then the array format becomes... interesting.
Array
(
[download] => Array
(
[name] => Array
(
[file1] => MyFile.txt
[file2] => MyFile.jpg
)
[type] => Array
(
[file1] => text/plain
[file2] => image/jpeg
)
[tmp_name] => Array
(
[file1] => /tmp/php/php1h4j1o
[file2] => /tmp/php/php6hst32
)
[error] => Array
(
[file1] => UPLOAD_ERR_OK
[file2] => UPLOAD_ERR_OK
)
[size] => Array
(
[file1] => 123
[file2] => 98174
)
)
)
So you'd need to access the error param of file1 as, eg $_Files['download']['error']['file1']
If $_FILES is empty, even when uploading, try adding enctype="multipart/form-data" to the form tag and make sure you have file uploads turned on.
A note of security: Don't ever trust $_FILES["image"]["type"]. It takes whatever is sent from the browser, so don't trust this for the image type. I recommend using finfo_open (http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.finfo-open.php) to verify the MIME type of a file. It will parse the MAGIC in the file and return it's type...this can be trusted (you can also use the "file" program on Unix, but I would refrain from ever making a System call with your PHP code...that's just asking for problems).
For some reason when I tried to check if $_FILES['myVarName'] was empty() or !isset() or array_key_exists(), it always came back that the file was indeed in the superglobal, even when nothing was uploaded.
I wonder if this is a result of enctype="multipart/form-data".
Anyways, I solved my issue by checking to make sure that $_FILES['myVarName']['size'] > 0
Nontypicall array comes in php after the submission.I wrote a small function to restate it to the familiar look.
<?php
function multiple(array $_files, $top = TRUE)
{
$files = array();
foreach($_files as $name=>$file){
if($top) $sub_name = $file['name'];
else $sub_name = $name;
if(is_array($sub_name)){
foreach(array_keys($sub_name) as $key){
$files[$name][$key] = array(
'name' => $file['name'][$key],
'type' => $file['type'][$key],
'tmp_name' => $file['tmp_name'][$key],
'error' => $file['error'][$key],
'size' => $file['size'][$key],
);
$files[$name] = multiple($files[$name], FALSE);
}
}else{
$files[$name] = $file;
}
}
return $files;
}
print_r($_FILES);
/*
Array
(
[image] => Array
(
[name] => Array
(
[0] => 400.png
)
[type] => Array
(
[0] => image/png
)
[tmp_name] => Array
(
[0] => /tmp/php5Wx0aJ
)
[error] => Array
(
[0] => 0
)
[size] => Array
(
[0] => 15726
)
)
)
*/
$files = multiple($_FILES);
print_r($files);
/*
Array
(
[image] => Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[name] => 400.png
[type] => image/png
[tmp_name] => /tmp/php5Wx0aJ
[error] => 0
[size] => 15726
)
)
)
*/
?>
In the past you could unconditionally call $_FILES['profile_pic'] without ever having to worry about PHP spitting an "Undefined index: profile_pic" error (so long as the page posting had a file input on it (e.g. <input type="file" name="profile_pic" />)). This was the case regardless of whether or not the end user actually uploaded a file. These days, with so many people browsing the web via iPads, you have to explicitly check to see if the input isset($_FILES['profile_pic']) before calling into it, else you'll get the aforementioned error message. This is because iOS devices running Safari disable file inputs thereby causing them to be treated as if they don't exist. Time to update your scripts!
-john
For quick debugging (eg. var_dump($_FILES);), these are the values of the error constants. Obviously don't use these for comparison in real code.
UPLOAD_ERR_OK: 0
UPLOAD_ERR_INI_SIZE: 1
UPLOAD_ERR_FORM_SIZE: 2
UPLOAD_ERR_NO_TMP_DIR: 6
UPLOAD_ERR_CANT_WRITE: 7
UPLOAD_ERR_EXTENSION: 8
UPLOAD_ERR_PARTIAL: 3
In checking the error code, you probably ought to check for code 4. I believe Code 4 means no file was uploaded, and there are many instances where that's perfectly OK.
Such as when you have a form with multiple data items, including file and image uploads, plus whatever else. The user might not be adding a new upload for whatever reason, such as there may already be a file in the system from an earlier update, and the user is satisfied with that.
For situation download[file1], download[file2], ..., download[fileN], try it:
<?php
/**
*
* @param array $arrayForFill
* @param string $currentKey
* @param mixed $currentMixedValue
* @param string $fileDescriptionParam (name, type, tmp_name, error или size)
* @return void
*/
function rRestructuringFilesArray(&$arrayForFill, $currentKey, $currentMixedValue, $fileDescriptionParam)
{
if (is_array($currentMixedValue)) {
foreach ($currentMixedValue as $nameKey => $mixedValue) {
rRestructuringFilesArray($arrayForFill[$currentKey],
$nameKey,
$mixedValue,
$fileDescriptionParam);
}
} else {
$arrayForFill[$currentKey][$fileDescriptionParam] = $currentMixedValue;
}
}
$arrayForFill = array();
foreach ($_FILES as $firstNameKey => $arFileDescriptions) {
foreach ($arFileDescriptions as $fileDescriptionParam => $mixedValue) {
rRestructuringFilesArray($arrayForFill,
$firstNameKey,
$_FILES[$firstNameKey][$fileDescriptionParam],
$fileDescriptionParam);
}
}
$_FILES = $arrayForFill;
?>
I've written this function to restructure deeply nested $_FILES arrays, so that the parameters for each file are grouped together.
function restructure_files(array $input)
{
$output = [];
foreach ($input as $name => $array) {
foreach ($array as $field => $value) {
$pointer = &$output[$name];
if (!is_array($value)) {
$pointer[$field] = $value;
continue;
}
$stack = [&$pointer];
$iterator = new \RecursiveIteratorIterator(
new \RecursiveArrayIterator($value),
\RecursiveIteratorIterator::SELF_FIRST
);
foreach ($iterator as $key => $value) {
array_splice($stack, $iterator->getDepth() + 1);
$pointer = &$stack[count($stack) - 1];
$pointer = &$pointer[$key];
$stack[] = &$pointer;
if (!$iterator->hasChildren()) {
$pointer[$field] = $value;
}
}
}
}
return $output;
}
Turns this:
array (size=2)
'one' =>
array (size=5)
'name' =>
array (size=1)
'inner' =>
array (size=2)
11 => string 'DM4C2738.jpg' (length=12)
5 => string 'DM4C2760.jpg' (length=12)
'type' =>
array (size=1)
'inner' =>
array (size=2)
11 => string 'image/jpeg' (length=10)
5 => string 'image/jpeg' (length=10)
'tmp_name' =>
array (size=1)
'inner' =>
array (size=2)
11 => string '/private/var/tmp/phploOZRb' (length=26)
5 => string '/private/var/tmp/phpsFkmIh' (length=26)
'error' =>
array (size=1)
'inner' =>
array (size=2)
11 => int 0
5 => int 0
'size' =>
array (size=1)
'inner' =>
array (size=2)
11 => int 1031601
5 => int 674697
'two' =>
array (size=5)
'name' => string '9ncYySC.jpg' (length=11)
'type' => string 'image/jpeg' (length=10)
'tmp_name' => string '/private/var/tmp/phpuG99X9' (length=26)
'error' => int 0
'size' => int 882422
Into this:
array (size=2)
'one' =>
array (size=1)
'inner' =>
array (size=2)
11 =>
array (size=5)
'name' => string 'DM4C2738.jpg' (length=12)
'type' => string 'image/jpeg' (length=10)
'tmp_name' => string '/private/var/tmp/phploOZRb' (length=26)
'error' => int 0
'size' => int 1031601
5 =>
array (size=5)
'name' => string 'DM4C2760.jpg' (length=12)
'type' => string 'image/jpeg' (length=10)
'tmp_name' => string '/private/var/tmp/phpsFkmIh' (length=26)
'error' => int 0
'size' => int 674697
'two' =>
array (size=5)
'name' => string '9ncYySC.jpg' (length=11)
'type' => string 'image/jpeg' (length=10)
'tmp_name' => string '/private/var/tmp/phpuG99X9' (length=26)
'error' => int 0
'size' => int 882422
I spent 3 hours trying to find out why when I upload multiples file $_FILES return empty, I did noticed it was only when I select files that exceed 3m so I thought it was something related to the MAX_UPLOAD_SIZE that for my surprice came as default as 20m which was very confusing. Later I discovery the problem was in the POST_MAX_SIZE been 3m, so it happen that not only MAX_UPLOAD_SIZE is responsible and that is why I'd like to know there is no error message that shows the cause.
If you're uploading multiple files and you name your file inputs "upload[]" the $_FILES array will look different than the var_dump posted below. I figured I'd post what it looks like since it caused me (and still causes me) headaches!
array(1) {
["upload"]=>array(5) {
["name"]=>array(3) {
[0]=>string(9)"file0.txt"
[1]=>string(9)"file1.txt"
[2]=>string(9)"file2.txt"
}
["type"]=>array(3) {
[0]=>string(10)"text/plain"
[1]=>string(10)"text/plain"
[2]=>string(10)"text/plain"
}
["tmp_name"]=>array(3) {
[0]=>string(14)"/tmp/blablabla"
[1]=>string(14)"/tmp/phpyzZxta"
[2]=>string(14)"/tmp/phpn3nopO"
}
["error"]=>array(3) {
[0]=>int(0)
[1]=>int(0)
[2]=>int(0)
}
["size"]=>array(3) {
[0]=>int(0)
[1]=>int(0)
[2]=>int(0)
}
}
}
(I thought the array would have looked like upload[index][name] which is not the case.)
Having url rewrite patterns in .htaccess file which modify your urls can affect $_FILES sometimes. Even though the php page loads and works fine, this variable may not work because of it. Therefore if you rewrite 'www.example.com' to 'example.com', make sure you use the latter one when sending POST to the php page. I'm still not sure why this happens, but its worth noting here so others don't spend time chasing ghosts.
As mentioned , you should check the error index of the upload.
Example below suggests you have a file field named 'image'.
<?php
if($_FILES['image']['error'] == 0){
// success - move uploaded file and process stuff here
}else{
// 'there was an error uploading file' stuff here....
}
?>
THis is an solution to convert Cyrillic and umlaut characters as file name when uplaoding files into needed encoding. Was searching for it but could not find. Thus posting this. Just like this:
$value = mb_convert_encoding($value, "UTF-8");
You can check error index this way:
<?php
$errorIndex = $_FILES["file"]["error"];
if ($errorIndex > 0) {
die('We have a error. Try Again.');
}
processFile();
?>
Others have posted about how the $_FILES array organizes data differently depending on whether the HTML input is a single or multiple type, so it seems to be a common enough problem. If for some reason you need to mix-and-match the types, or you're not sure which how many files you'll be expecting from a multiple input, this is a very useful way to reorganize the $_FILES array. Also, unlike some of the earlier posts, the formatting of the new array (i.e. the number of keys and values) is consistent.
<?php
// Reorganize $_FILES array information
$files = Array ();
$i = 0;
// Start with all inputs in $_FILES array
foreach ($_FILES as $input)
{
$j = 0;
foreach ($input as $property => $value)
{
if (is_array($value))
{
$j = count($value); // Number of iterations
for ($k = 0; $k < $j; ++$k)
{
$files[$i + $k][$property] = $value[$k];
}
}
else
{
$j = 1;
$files[$i][$property] = $value;
}
}
$i += $j;
}
?>
The results will look something like this:
$files = Array (
[0] => Array (
[name] => ''
[type] => ''
[tmp_name] => ''
[error] => 0
[size] => 0
)
)
I just spent long time debugging strange behavior of one of our application on new webhosting. We have 30 file inputs on one page for upload to server. Problem was that only 20 was actually uploaded.
Now I found there is an option max_file_uploads in php.ini limiting maximum size of $_FILES to 20 by default.
When you have suhosin extension installed it has own option limiting same thing to 25 (suhosin.upload.max_uploads in php.ini)
I realize there are a number of posts here for reformating the php $_FILES array, but they don't handle all cases. This handles the single case, the multiple file case, and even submitting multiple file arrays. This way no matter what, before ever touching the files array I call this regardless of what it might be:
<?php
/**
* This is to fix the odd files array PHP creates when a file input has a name that's php array:
* eg: <file name="model[column]" value='file1'> <file name="model[column2][]" value='file2'>
* becomes: $_FILES['model']['name'][column] = file1_name.xxx
* $_FILES['model']['name'][column2][0] = file2_name.xxx
*
* this changes it to:
* $files['model'][column]['name'] = file1_name.xxx
* $files['model'][column2][0]['name'] = file2_name.xxx
*
* This way the file data is grouped together as expected and as it does with a non-array type name attribute
*/
static public function multi_file_fix($files = null)
{
if ($files == null) {
$files = (is_array($_FILES)) ? $_FILES : array();
}
//make there there is a file, and see if the first item is also an array
$new_files = array();
foreach ($files as $name => $attributes) {
if (is_array(reset($attributes))) { //check first item
foreach ($attributes as $attribute => $item) { //array file submit, eg name="model[file]"
foreach ($item as $key => $value) {
if (is_array($value)) {
foreach ($value as $key2 => $sub_val) { // multi-array file submit, eg name="model[file][]"
$new_files[$name][$key][$key2][$attribute] = $sub_val;
}
} else {
$new_files[$name][$key][$attribute] = $value;
}
}
}
} else { // regular file submit, eg name="file"
$new_files[$name] = $attributes;
}
}
return $new_files;
}
//Usage:
$files = multi_file_fix($_FILES);
?>
Here is my version of $_FILES rearrange. Unlike other codes here, this working well on any depth of $_FILES.
<?php
if (!empty($_FILES)) {
function rearrange_files_array(array $array) {
foreach ($array as &$value) {
$_array = array();
foreach ($value as $prop => $propval) {
if (is_array($propval)) {
array_walk_recursive($propval, function(&$item, $key, $value) use($prop) {
$item = array($prop => $item);
}, $value);
$_array = array_replace_recursive($_array, $propval);
} else {
$_array[$prop] = $propval;
}
}
$value = $_array;
}
return $array;
}
echo '<pre>'.print_r(rearrange_files_array($_FILES), true).'</pre>';
}
?>
<form method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data" style="clear: both;">
<h3>upload1</h3>
<div><label>new0</label><input type="file" name="upload1[new][]" /></div>
<div><label>new1</label><input type="file" name="upload1[new][]" /></div>
<div><label>update.id11</label><input type="file" name="upload1[update][id11]" /></div>
<div><label>update.id12</label><input type="file" name="upload1[update][id12]" /></div>
<hr />
<h3>upload2</h3>
<div><label>new0</label><input type="file" name="upload2[]" /></div>
<div><label>new1</label><input type="file" name="upload2[]" /></div>
<div><label>update.id21</label><input type="file" name="upload2[id21]" /></div>
<div><label>update.id22</label><input type="file" name="upload2[id22]" /></div>
<hr />
<div><label>upload3</label><input type="file" name="upload3" /></div>
<input type="submit" value="go" />
</form>
The output after empty form is posted:
Array
(
[upload1] => Array
(
[new] => Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[name] =>
[type] =>
[tmp_name] =>
[error] => 4
[size] => 0
)
[1] => Array
(
[name] =>
[type] =>
[tmp_name] =>
[error] => 4
[size] => 0
)
)
[update] => Array
(
[id11] => Array
(
[name] =>
[type] =>
[tmp_name] =>
[error] => 4
[size] => 0
)
[id12] => Array
(
[name] =>
[type] =>
[tmp_name] =>
[error] => 4
[size] => 0
)
)
)
[upload2] => Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[name] =>
[type] =>
[tmp_name] =>
[error] => 4
[size] => 0
)
[1] => Array
(
[name] =>
[type] =>
[tmp_name] =>
[error] => 4
[size] => 0
)
[id21] => Array
(
[name] =>
[type] =>
[tmp_name] =>
[error] => 4
[size] => 0
)
[id22] => Array
(
[name] =>
[type] =>
[tmp_name] =>
[error] => 4
[size] => 0
)
)
[upload3] => Array
(
[name] =>
[type] =>
[tmp_name] =>
[error] => 4
[size] => 0
)
)
To determine whether upload was successful you should check for error being UPLOAD_ERR_OK instead of checking the file size. When nothing is chosen to be uploaded, the key in $_FILES will still be there, but it should have error equal UPLOAD_ERR_NO_FILE.
If you are getting NULL values and want to see what error is being returned you can add ' 2>&1' to the end of your command. On a linux server this will redirect the stderr to stdout (so the string error will be output). This probably saved me a ton of time.