How Can I Recursively Delete a Directory and Its Contents in PHP?

Directory Deletion with Recursive Traversal in PHP

Problem:

How can we effectively delete a directory and its entire contents, including any subdirectories and associated files, using PHP?

Answer:

To tackle this recursive directory deletion task, we utilize a user-contributed method from the rmdir manual page:

function rrmdir($dir) {
    // Verify if the specified path is a valid directory
    if (is_dir($dir)) {
        // Retrieve a list of files and subdirectories within the directory
        $objects = scandir($dir);

        // Iterate through each item in the directory
        foreach ($objects as $object) {
            // Exclude hidden files and directories (dot files)
            if ($object !== "." && $object !== "..") {
                // If the item is a directory, recursively delete it
                if (is_dir($dir . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . $object) && !is_link($dir . "/" . $object)) {
                    rrmdir($dir . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . $object);
                } else {
                    // Delete the item if it's a file
                    unlink($dir . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . $object);
                }
            }
        }

        // Once all items within the directory have been removed, remove the directory itself
        rmdir($dir);
    }
}

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