PHP rename() not working to move files

[Johna]

I have a file called index.php (located in the root folder of the website) which creates a file called cat.php in the root folder of the website.

<?php
$title = "cat";
$image = "cat_pics";
$desc = "funny cat pictures";

$content = "<?php include '_data/head.php'; ?><title>" . $title . " | Crazy Chicken Girl</title><?php include '_data/header.php'; ?><?php echo 'Title: " . $title . "'; echo '\nImage: " . $image . "'; echo '\nDescription: " . $desc . "'; ?><?php include '_data/footer.php'; ?>";

$newfile = fopen($title . ".php", "w");
fwrite($newfile, $content);
fclose($newfile);
?>

I want to move the cat.php file to a folder and rename the file index.php, so that the file path will be /cat/index.php.
After a bit of searching I saw that you can move a file using the rename() function, so I added this to my code:

$path = $title . ".php";
$newpath = $title . "/index.php";
rename($path, $newpath);

After adding the rename() function, I have this code, but the rename() function doesn't seem to move the file.

<?php
$title = "cat";
$image = "cat_pics";
$desc = "funny cat pictures";

$content = "<?php include '_data/head.php'; ?><title>" . $title . " | Crazy Chicken Girl</title><?php include '_data/header.php'; ?><?php echo 'Title: " . $title . "'; echo '\nImage: " . $image . "'; echo '\nDescription: " . $desc . "'; ?><?php include '_data/footer.php'; ?>";

$newfile = fopen($title . ".php", "w");
fwrite($newfile, $content);
fclose($newfile);

$path = $title . ".php";
$newpath = $title . "/index.php";
rename($path, $newpath);
?>

 

[Antero360]

I have a file called index.php (located in the root folder of the website) which creates a file called cat.php in the root folder of the website.

<?php
$title = "cat";
$image = "cat_pics";
$desc = "funny cat pictures";

$content = "<?php include '_data/head.php'; ?><title>" . $title . " | Crazy Chicken Girl</title><?php include '_data/header.php'; ?><?php echo 'Title: " . $title . "'; echo '\nImage: " . $image . "'; echo '\nDescription: " . $desc . "'; ?><?php include '_data/footer.php'; ?>";

$newfile = fopen($title . ".php", "w");
fwrite($newfile, $content);
fclose($newfile);
?>

I want to move the cat.php file to a folder and rename the file index.php, so that the file path will be /cat/index.php.
After a bit of searching I saw that you can move a file using the rename() function, so I added this to my code:

$path = $title . ".php";
$newpath = $title . "/index.php";
rename($path, $newpath);

After adding the rename() function, I have this code, but the rename() function doesn't seem to move the file.

<?php
$title = "cat";
$image = "cat_pics";
$desc = "funny cat pictures";

$content = "<?php include '_data/head.php'; ?><title>" . $title . " | Crazy Chicken Girl</title><?php include '_data/header.php'; ?><?php echo 'Title: " . $title . "'; echo '\nImage: " . $image . "'; echo '\nDescription: " . $desc . "'; ?><?php include '_data/footer.php'; ?>";

$newfile = fopen($title . ".php", "w");
fwrite($newfile, $content);
fclose($newfile);

$path = $title . ".php";
$newpath = $title . "/index.php";
rename($path, $newpath);
?>

So question for ya...
Can you walk me through what is going on in this snippet?

$path = $title . ".php";
$newpath = $title . "/index.php";
rename($path, $newpath);

 

[Johna]

In the first line, I'm creating a variable called $path, which combines the variable $title ($title = "cat" in line 2) and the string ".php", which should make $path equal cat.php

The second line is the same as the first, but with a few things changed, so $newpath is cat/index.php

In the third line I use the rename function to rename the file cat.php ($path) to cat/index.php ($newpath). Doing this rename is supposed to move the file to a folder called cat, and rename the file to index.php

Link where I got that rename() moves files: https://thisinterestsme.com/move-file-php

 

[Antero360]

In the first line, I'm creating a variable called $path, which combines the variable $title ($title = "cat" in line 2) and the string ".php", which should make $path equal cat.php

The second line is the same as the first, but with a few things changed, so $newpath is cat/index.php

In the third line I use the rename function to rename the file cat.php ($path) to cat/index.php ($newpath). Doing this rename is supposed to move the file to a folder called cat, and rename the file to index.php

Link where I got that rename() moves files: https://thisinterestsme.com/move-file-php

More specifically, look at your $path and $newpath... would you, say, be missing a part of the path itself? say, the root part

 

[Johna]

You mean it should be like this?

$path = "/" . $title . ".php";
$newpath = "/" . $title . "/index.php";
rename($path, $newpath);

 

[Antero360]

You mean it should be like this?

$path = "/" . $title . ".php";
$newpath = "/" . $title . "/index.php";
rename($path, $newpath);

That looks a bit better give that a shot and see what happens

 

[Johna]

Still doesn't seem to be working. lol

 

[Antero360]

Still doesn't seem to be working. lol

Are you getting any errors?

 

[Antero360]

could be a couple of things:
1. check to make sure the directories have the proper permissions
2. Might need to use ABSPATH to get the absolute path

ex: ABSPATH . "/".$title . ".php"

 

[Johna]

Are you getting any errors?

I'm not sure how you can see errors?
It's just a blank page as I would expect it to be because there's no markup.

 

[Antero360]

I'm not sure how you can see errors?
It's just a blank page as I would expect it to be because there's no markup.

if you look at the directories, can you see the files?

 

[Antero360]

so also a few things:
might wanna check if file exists before calling rename

if (file_exists($old_name) && 
    ((!file_exists($new_name)) || is_writable($new_name))) {
    rename($old_name, $new_name);
}

turn on error logging

error_reporting(E_ERROR | E_WARNING | E_PARSE | E_NOTICE);

PHP : rename() How do I find the error cause?

I would like to print out the cause of the error. error_get_last() doesn't seem to return anything. rename() returns TRUE|FALSE rather than an exception. if (!rename($file->filepath, $full_pa...

stackoverflow.com

 

[Johna]

1. check to make sure the directories have the proper permissions

root folder is drwxr-xr-x (0755)
index.php is -rw-r--r-- (0644)
the generated cat.php is -rw-rw-rw- (0666)

if you look at the directories, can you see the files?

yeah I see the index.php and the cat.php next to to the index.php

 

[Antero360]

root folder is drwxr-xr-x (0755)
index.php is -rw-r--r-- (0644)
the generated cat.php is -rw-rw-rw- (0666)


yeah I see the index.php and the cat.php next to to the index.php

XD that's a nice number you got there rw XD I would personally have gone for 777 XD

 

[Antero360]

root folder is drwxr-xr-x (0755)
index.php is -rw-r--r-- (0644)
the generated cat.php is -rw-rw-rw- (0666)


yeah I see the index.php and the cat.php next to to the index.php

ok so that means that according to your code, a cat.php file should have been converted to a index.php file, correct?

 

[Johna]

ok so that means that according to your code, a cat.php file should have been converted to a index.php file, correct?

yeah

 

[Johna]

turn on error logging

error_reporting(E_ERROR | E_WARNING | E_PARSE | E_NOTICE);

I dont see any errors

 

[Antero360]

$path = "/" . $title . ".php";
$newpath = "/" . $title . "/index.php";
rename($path, $newpath);

example:
$title = "cat"
$path = "/cat.php"
$newpath = "/index.php"

result:
cat.php gets renamed to index.php under the same directory.

if you are trying to move to a new directory, you need to specify which

 

[Antero360]

$path = "/" . $title . ".php";
$newpath = "/" . $title . "/index.php";
rename($path, $newpath);

example:
$title = "cat"
$path = "/cat.php"
$newpath = "/index.php"

result:
cat.php gets renamed to index.php under the same directory.

if you are trying to move to a new directory, you need to specify which

So for example:
if you want to move cat.php to /demo and rename to index.php
it would be

rename('/cat.php', '/demo/index.php');

 

[Johna]

yeah, that's what I did, but instead using a few variables