PHP Filesystem dirname() Function

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The PHP Filesystem dirname() function is used to get the directory part of a file path. It is useful when working with file paths and want to keep the directory path apart from the file name. The dirname() returns the path of the directory that contains the file you specify as a file path. Also, you can choose how many directory levels you want to go over.

The common use cases of dirname() function is to organizing file paths, navigating directories, and to manage Filesystem structures in our PHP apps.

Syntax

Below is the syntax of the PHP Filesystem dirname() function −

string dirname ( string path, int levels )

Parameters

The parameters are needed to use the dirname() function are mentioned below −

Return Value

The function returns a string containing the directory path of the given file path.

PHP Version

The dirname() function was first introduced as part of core PHP 4 and work well with the PHP 5, PHP 7, PHP 8.

Example

So first we will see the simple usage of the PHP Filesystem dirname() function. We will simply echo the direname() of the path specified inside the dirname function.

<?php
   echo dirname("C:/PhpProject/index.php") . "\n";
   echo dirname("/PhpProject/index.php");
?>

Output

This will produce the following result −

C:/PhpProject
/PhpProject

Example

In the below code we will see how we can move multiple directory levels up in the given directory path by using the optional parameter of dirname() function.

<?php
   // define file path here
   $filePath = "/var/www/html/index.php";

   // use dirname function and pass both the parameters
   $parentDirectory = dirname($filePath, 2);

   // print the parent directory detail
   echo $parentDirectory; 
?> 

Output

This will generate the below output −

/var/www

Example

This example shows you how you can use dirname() function to get the directory of the current script file. We have used the PHP magic constant __FILE__ is the entire path and filename of the script that is currently running. So, dirname(__FILE__) can be used to determine the directory name of the current script file.

<?php
   $sdir = dirname(__FILE__);
   echo $sdir; 
?> 

Output

This will lead to the following outcome −

/Applications/XAMPP/xamppfiles/htdocs/mac

Note

• The dirname() can be used on Unix and Windows-based platforms. It uses the \ for Windows and the / for Unix as directory separators.
• It can be used with absolute or relative paths. Documents will be provided, for example, using dirname("documents/file.txt").

Summary

Use dirname() to get the directory name of a file path. If you need to create a backup directory, use dirname() to get the parent directory and then create the backup folder inside of it.