chdir - PHP code example

Changing the Directory in PHP

If you want to switch to a directory that exists one level up, the chdir function (or cd command on your Operating System) is used. It is quite easy to do it in PHP too. All you need to do is to store the results returned by the dirname() function in a variable and pass it further to the chdir() function.

The chdir() function, a built-in function in PHP, changes the current working directory of the PHP instance to the specified dir_name. It returns TRUE on success or FALSE on failure.

Changing the directory is an important part of handling files in a PHP script. However, there are a few things that you need to keep in mind when using the function.

For example, if you use the function while the filesystem is rooted on a different physical medium than the web server, the function will fail. It is also essential to know the difference between an absolute and a relative path. This is because most functions that handle files will be working with real files and directories located on the disk.

In addition, it is important to remember that in PHP, variables and arrays are passed by value, while objects are passed by reference. This is important to know when dealing with recursive calls to the chdir() function as it will be affected by whether you are passing the argument by value or by reference. Also, if the PHP interpreter is built with ZTS enabled, then any changes made to the current working directory through chdir() will be invisible to the operating system. This means that any other built-in functions will still respect the change in current directory, but external library functions called through FFI will not.

chdir example

    'config_test.dynamic.system',
  ];

  /** * {@inheritdoc} */
  public static function setUpBeforeClass(): void {
    parent::setUpBeforeClass();
    VarDumper::setHandler(TestVarDumper::class D '::cliHandler');

    // Change the current dir to DRUPAL_ROOT.     chdir(static::getDrupalRoot());
  }

  /** * {@inheritdoc} */
  protected function setUp(): void {
    parent::setUp();

    // Allow tests to compare MarkupInterface objects via assertEquals().     $this->registerComparator(new MarkupInterfaceComparator());

  protected function prepareEnvironment() {
    // Bootstrap Drupal so we can use Drupal's built in functions.     $this->classLoader = require __DIR__ . '/../../../../../autoload.php';
    $request = Request::createFromGlobals();
    $kernel = TestRunnerKernel::createFromRequest($request, $this->classLoader);
    // TestRunnerKernel expects the working directory to be DRUPAL_ROOT.     chdir(DRUPAL_ROOT);
    $kernel->boot();
    $kernel->preHandle($request);
    $this->prepareDatabasePrefix();

    $this->originalSite = $kernel->findSitePath($request);

    // Create test directory ahead of installation so fatal errors and debug     // information can be logged during installation process.     \Drupal::service('file_system')->prepareDirectory($this->siteDirectory, FileSystemInterface::CREATE_DIRECTORY | FileSystemInterface::MODIFY_PERMISSIONS);

    // Prepare filesystem directory paths.

    abstract protected function getGuesser(): MimeTypeGuesserInterface;

    public function testGuessWithLeadingDash()
    {
        if (!$this->getGuesser()->isGuesserSupported()) {
            $this->markTestSkipped('Guesser is not supported');
        }

        $cwd = getcwd();
        chdir(__DIR__.'/Fixtures/mimetypes');
        try {
            $this->assertEquals('image/gif', $this->getGuesser()->guessMimeType('-test'));
        } finally {
            chdir($cwd);
        }
    }

    public function testGuessImageWithoutExtension()
    {
        if (!$this->getGuesser()->isGuesserSupported()) {
            $this->markTestSkipped('Guesser is not supported');
        }

->addUsage('custom_theme --name "Custom Theme" --description "Custom theme generated from a starterkit theme" --path themes')
      ->addUsage('custom_theme --name "Custom Theme" --starterkit mystarterkit');
  }

  /** * {@inheritdoc} */
  protected function execute(InputInterface $input, OutputInterface $output): int {
    $io = new SymfonyStyle($input, $output);

    // Change the directory to the Drupal root.     chdir($this->root);

    // Path where the generated theme should be placed.     $destination_theme = $input->getArgument('machine-name');
    $default_destination = 'themes';
    $destination = trim($input->getOption('path') ?: $default_destination, '/') . '/' . $destination_theme;

    if (is_dir($destination)) {
      $io->getErrorStyle()->error("Theme could not be generated because the destination directory $destination exists already.");
      return 1;
    }

$newResource = unserialize(serialize($resource));

        $p = new \ReflectionProperty($resource, 'globBrace');

        $this->assertEquals($p->getValue($resource), $p->getValue($newResource));
    }

    public function testPhar()
    {
        $s = \DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR;
        $cwd = getcwd();
        chdir(\dirname(__DIR__).'/Fixtures');
        try {
            $resource = new GlobResource('phar://some.phar', '*', true);
            $files = array_keys(iterator_to_array($resource));
            $this->assertSame(["phar://some.phar{$s}ProjectWithXsdExtensionInPhar.php", "phar://some.phar{$s}schema{$s}project-1.0.xsd"], $files);

            $resource = new GlobResource("phar://some.phar{$s}ProjectWithXsdExtensionInPhar.php", '', true);
            $files = array_keys(iterator_to_array($resource));
            $this->assertSame(["phar://some.phar{$s}ProjectWithXsdExtensionInPhar.php"], $files);
        } finally {
            chdir($cwd);
        }
    }

if (isset(self::$darwinCache[$real])) {
            $kDir = $real;
        } else {
            $kDir = strtolower($real);

            if (isset(self::$darwinCache[$kDir])) {
                $real = self::$darwinCache[$kDir][0];
            } else {
                $dir = getcwd();

                if (!@chdir($real)) {
                    return $real.$file;
                }

                $real = getcwd().'/';
                chdir($dir);

                $dir = $real;
                $k = $kDir;
                $i = \strlen($dir) - 1;
                while (!isset(self::$darwinCache[$k])) {
                    self::$darwinCache[$k] = [$dir, []];

->addUsage('--install-profile demo_umami --langcode fr')
      ->addUsage('--base-url "http://example.com" --db-url "mysql://username:password@localhost/databasename#table_prefix"');
  }

  /** * {@inheritdoc} */
  protected function execute(InputInterface $input, OutputInterface $output): int {
    // Determines and validates the setup class prior to installing a database     // to avoid creating unnecessary sites.     $root = dirname(__DIR__, 5);
    chdir($root);
    $class_name = $this->getSetupClass($input->getOption('setup-file'));
    // Ensure we can install a site in the sites/simpletest directory.     $this->ensureDirectory($root);

    $db_url = $input->getOption('db-url');
    $base_url = $input->getOption('base-url');
    putenv("SIMPLETEST_DB=$db_url");
    putenv("SIMPLETEST_BASE_URL=$base_url");

    // Manage site fixture.     $this->setup($input->getOption('install-profile'), $class_name, $input->getOption('langcode'));

PHP_VERSION
    );

    exit($message);
}

// Path to the front controller (this file) define('FCPATH', __DIR__ . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR);

// Ensure the current directory is pointing to the front controller's directory if (getcwd() . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR !== FCPATH) {
    chdir(FCPATH);
}

/* *--------------------------------------------------------------- * BOOTSTRAP THE APPLICATION *--------------------------------------------------------------- * This process sets up the path constants, loads and registers * our autoloader, along with Composer's, loads our constants * and fires up an environment-specific bootstrapping. */

<?php
/** * @file * Initiates a browser-based installation of Drupal. */

use Drupal\Component\Utility\OpCodeCache;

// Change the directory to the Drupal root. chdir('..');
// Store the Drupal root path. $root_path = realpath('');

/** * Global flag to indicate the site is in installation mode. * * The constant is defined using define() instead of const so that PHP * versions prior to 5.3 can display proper PHP requirements instead of causing * a fatal error. */
define('MAINTENANCE_MODE', 'install');

/** * {@inheritdoc} */
  protected function execute(InputInterface $input, OutputInterface $output): int {
    $io = new SymfonyStyle($input, $output);
    if (!extension_loaded('pdo_sqlite')) {
      $io->getErrorStyle()->error('You must have the pdo_sqlite PHP extension installed. See core/INSTALL.sqlite.txt for instructions.');
      return 1;
    }

    // Change the directory to the Drupal root.     chdir(dirname(__DIR__, 5));

    // Check whether there is already an installation.     if ($this->isDrupalInstalled()) {
      // Do not fail if the site is already installed so this command can be       // chained with ServerCommand.       $output->writeln('<info>Drupal is already installed.</info> If you want to reinstall, remove sites/default/files and sites/default/settings.php.');
      return 0;
    }

    $install_profile = $input->getArgument('install-profile');
    if ($install_profile && !$this->validateProfile($install_profile, $io)) {

->addArgument('uid', InputArgument::REQUIRED, 'The ID of the user for whom the link will be generated')
      ->addOption('site-path', NULL, InputOption::VALUE_REQUIRED, 'The path for the test site.');
  }

  /** * {@inheritdoc} * * @throws \Symfony\Component\Console\Exception\InvalidArgumentException */
  protected function execute(InputInterface $input, OutputInterface $output): int {
    $root = dirname(__DIR__, 5);
    chdir($root);

    $this->classLoader = require 'autoload.php';
    $kernel = new DrupalKernel('prod', $this->classLoader, FALSE);
    $kernel::bootEnvironment();
    $kernel->setSitePath($input->getOption('site-path'));
    Settings::initialize($kernel->getAppRoot(), $kernel->getSitePath(), $this->classLoader);

    $request = Request::createFromGlobals();

    $kernel->boot();
    $kernel->preHandle($request);

use Drupal\Core\DrupalKernel;
use Drupal\Core\Form\EnforcedResponseException;
use Drupal\Core\Url;
use Symfony\Component\HttpKernel\Exception\HttpExceptionInterface;
use Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\Request;
use Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\Response;
use Drupal\Core\Site\Settings;
use Drupal\Core\Routing\RouteObjectInterface;
use Symfony\Component\Routing\Route;

// Change the directory to the Drupal root. chdir('..');

$autoloader = require_once 'autoload.php';

/** * Global flag to identify update.php and authorize.php runs. * * Identifies update.php and authorize.php runs, avoiding unwanted operations * such as css/js preprocessing and translation, and solves some theming issues. * The flag is checked in other places in Drupal code (not just authorize.php). */
const MAINTENANCE_MODE = 'update';

function centered(string $text)
{
    $padding = (int) ((LINE_WIDTH - strlen($text)) / 2);

    return str_repeat(' ', $padding).$text;
}

function cd(string $dir): void
{
    if (false === chdir($dir)) {
        bailout("Could not switch to directory $dir.");
    }
}

function run(string $command): void
{
    exec($command, $output, $status);

    if (0 !== $status) {
        $output = implode("\n", $output);
        echo "Error while running:\n ".getcwd().'$ '.$command."\nOutput:\n".LINE."$output\n".LINE;

$prevCacheDir = false;
    }
}
$SYMFONY_PHPUNIT_REMOVE = $getEnvVar('SYMFONY_PHPUNIT_REMOVE', 'phpspec/prophecy'.($PHPUNIT_VERSION < 6.0 ? ' symfony/yaml' : ''));
$SYMFONY_PHPUNIT_REQUIRE = $getEnvVar('SYMFONY_PHPUNIT_REQUIRE', '');
$configurationHash = md5(implode(\PHP_EOL, [md5_file(__FILE__), $SYMFONY_PHPUNIT_REMOVE, $SYMFONY_PHPUNIT_REQUIRE, (int) $PHPUNIT_REMOVE_RETURN_TYPEHINT]));
$PHPUNIT_VERSION_DIR = sprintf('phpunit-%s-%d', $PHPUNIT_VERSION, $PHPUNIT_REMOVE_RETURN_TYPEHINT);
if (!file_exists("$PHPUNIT_DIR/$PHPUNIT_VERSION_DIR/phpunit") || $configurationHash !== @file_get_contents("$PHPUNIT_DIR/.$PHPUNIT_VERSION_DIR.md5")) {
    // Build a standalone phpunit without symfony/yaml nor prophecy by default
    @mkdir($PHPUNIT_DIR, 0777, true);
    chdir($PHPUNIT_DIR);
    if (file_exists("$PHPUNIT_VERSION_DIR")) {
        passthru(sprintf('\\' === \DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR ? 'rmdir /S /Q %s 2> NUL' : 'rm -rf %s', escapeshellarg("$PHPUNIT_VERSION_DIR.old")));
        rename("$PHPUNIT_VERSION_DIR", "$PHPUNIT_VERSION_DIR.old");
        passthru(sprintf('\\' === \DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR ? 'rmdir /S /Q %s' : 'rm -rf %s', escapeshellarg("$PHPUNIT_VERSION_DIR.old")));
    }

    $info = [];
    foreach (explode("\n", `$COMPOSER info --no-ansi -a -n phpunit/phpunit "$PHPUNIT_VERSION.*"`) as $line) {
        $line = rtrim($line);

        if (!$info && preg_match('/^versions +: /', $line)) {

  protected $root;

  /** * {@inheritdoc} */
  protected function setUp(): void {
    parent::setUp();
    $php_executable_finder = new PhpExecutableFinder();
    $this->php = $php_executable_finder->find();
    $this->root = dirname(substr(__DIR__, 0, -strlen(__NAMESPACE__)), 2);
    chdir($this->root);
    if (!is_writable("{$this->root}/sites/simpletest")) {
      $this->markTestSkipped('This test requires a writable sites/simpletest directory');
    }
    // Get a lock and a valid site path.     $this->testDb = new TestDatabase();
  }

  /** * {@inheritdoc} */
  protected function tearDown(): void {