PHP Filesystem pathinfo() Function

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The PHP Filesystem pathinfo() function is used to return an array that contains information about a path. If the options parameter is not passed, an associative array containing the elements is returned: dirname, basename, extension (if any), and filename.

The pathinfo() function is aware of your computer's language and region settings. To properly handle file paths with special characters, use the 'setlocale()' function to pick the correct language and region.

Syntax

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

mixed pathinfo ( string $path [, int $options = PATHINFO_DIRNAME | PATHINFO_BASENAME | PATHINFO_EXTENSION | PATHINFO_FILENAME ] )

Parameters

Below are the required and optional parameters of the pathinfo() function −

Return Value

The function pathinfo() returns information about the path: either an associative array or a string, depending on options.

PHP Version

The pathinfo() function was first introduced as part of core PHP 4.0.3 and work well with the PHP 5, PHP 7 and PHP 8.

Example

Here is the basic example to see how the PHP Filesystem pathinfo() function is used to parse the information about the path.

<?php
   print_r(pathinfo("/PhpProjects/simple.txt"));
?>

Output

Here is the outcome of the following code −

Array
(
   [dirname] => /PhpProjects
   [basename] => simple.txt
   [extension] => txt
   [filename] => simple
)

Example

Here is the another example to show the usage of pathinfo() function to get the information about the given path also we will use here the optional parameter PATHINFO_BASENAME to get the base name from the path.

<?php
   print_r(pathinfo("/PhpProjects/simple.txt", PATHINFO_BASENAME));
?> 

Output

This will produce the following result −

simple.txt

Example

Here is one more example to the complete information about the given path inside the pathinfo() function by using all the optional parameters..

<?php
   $path = "/PhpProjects/myfile.txt";

   // Get only the directory name
   $dirname = pathinfo($path, PATHINFO_DIRNAME);
   echo "The only directory name: ".$dirname; 
   echo "\n";

   // Get only the base name
   $basename = pathinfo($path, PATHINFO_BASENAME);
   echo "The Base name only: ".$basename; 
   echo "\n";

   // Get only the file extension
   $extension = pathinfo($path, PATHINFO_EXTENSION);
   echo "The file extension: ".$extension; 
   echo "\n";

   // Get only the file name without the extension
   $filename = pathinfo($path, PATHINFO_FILENAME);
   echo "The filename without extension: ".$filename; 
?> 

Output

This will generate the below output −

The only directory name: /PhpProjects
The Base name only: myfile.txt
The file extension: txt
The filename without extension: myfile

Notes

Below are some important points to keep in mind while working with the pathinfo() function −

• The pathinfo() operates naively on the given string, uninformed of the real filesystem or path components, like ".."
• On Windows systems, the \ character is used as a directory separator. On other systems, it will be treated like any other character.

Summary

The pathinfo() method is a built-in function to parse the information about the given path. It is very helpful to get the exact information about the particular path or file like its extension, its folder location, its name.