Count the number of files that are recursively searched for.

[chrismassey]

Hello,

I have a function which I use for displaying the entire contents of a directory (a recursive process). It works great, but the only problem is I also use it for a search process (to search for a particular file) and at the end of the search I want to display how many directories were found and how many files were found. I basically do this by adding 1 to $dir_count for a directory and $file_count for a file. I then return these results so that they can be displayed at the end.

However, I am not totally sure why, but I think because of the recursive nature of the function, the result is not returned once at the very end, but returned many times (for example if there are 3 levels of directories, then the result will be returned 3 times) and inevitably the result displayed is the result of the final return.

Does anyone have any suggestions how I can improve my code so that it returns an accurate result of how many directories/files have been found?

Thank you very much,

Chris

(I cleaned the code up so only code regarding search remains):

function overview($main_action, $script_url, $overview_path, $ii_url, $p_tb1, $p_sb2, $dir_count, $file_count, $i_gap_count, $file_carry, $cm_carry, $cm_action, $dir_path) {
	$path = $overview_path.'/'.$dir_path;
	$url = $ii_url.'/'.$dir_path;
	$handle = opendir($path);
	while($file = readdir($handle)) {
		if ($file == '.' || $file == '..') {
			continue;
		}
		$new_dir_path = $dir_path.'/'.$file;
		$new_path = $path.'/'.$file;
		$new_url = $url.'/'.$file;
		if(is_dir($new_path)) {
			if (stristr($file, $p_tb1) === FALSE) { }
			else { 
				echo "<img src=\"Images/Directory.bmp\" title=\"Directory\"> <a href=\"$script_url?path_carry=c&file_carry=$file_carry&cm_carry=$cm_carry&cm_action=$cm_action\" title=\"$new_dir_path\"><b>$file</b></a><br>"; 
				$dir_count++; 
			}
			overview($main_action, $script_url, $overview_path, $ii_url, $p_tb1, $p_sb2, $dir_count, $file_count, $i_gap_count, $file_carry, $cm_carry, $cm_action, $new_dir_path);
		}
		else {
			if (stristr($file, $p_tb1) === FALSE) { }
			else { 
				echo "<img src=\"Images/File.bmp\" title=\"File\"> <a href=\"$new_url\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"$new_dir_path\">$file</a><br>";
				$file_count++; 
			}
		}
	}
	closedir($handle);
	$return = "$dir_count|$file_count";
	return $return;
}

 

[shaddow]

Well if the function works to display data, then it's good.
Problem is that in a recursive function when you return a value in an recursion step it usualy be returned each time you will leave that step so if you have a folder tree with 3 depths you will have that value 3 times, so to avoid that try to use referenced variable into your function call for example use $dir_count, $file_count as references and dont return any value in the function

$dir_count=0;
$file_count=0;
overview(... &$dir_count, &$file_count...)
$count = "$dir_count|$file_count";

//and you take out this code from function also, use reference on $dir_count and $file_count variables inside.
//    $return = "$dir_count|$file_count";
//    return $return;

________
George, M
Searches(faq333-4906),Carts(faq333-4911)

 

[chrismassey]

Nice one, thanks alot,

It worked perfectly and I could shorten parts of my code because of using references too. Thanks again,

Chris

 

[jpadie]

you can also use the 'static' keyword which then would not clog up your namespace.
glob() may be another potential solution.