The PHP Function ftp_chdir()
File transfer is a common operation in web development, whether you're uploading resources to a server or downloading data from one location to another. To help streamline this process and empower developers with powerful tools, PHP offers a range of FTP (File Transfer Protocol) functions.
The php function ftp_chdir() is one of these. It allows you to change the current directory on an FTP server, giving you a more flexible level of control over your remote files.
To use ftp_chdir(), you need to have an already established FTP connection. This is accomplished through a call to the ftp_connect() function, which takes a host name and a port number as input parameters. If successful, it returns a connection resource that you need to store away before executing any other FTP functions.
Once you have an open FTP connection, you can perform a variety of operations with the ftp_put() and ftp_get() functions. These allow you to upload and download files from the server to your local system, respectively. Ftp_put() requires the file name and a location on the server to upload the data, while ftp_get() takes four parameters: the connection, the remote file path, the local file path, and the transfer mode (ASCII or binary).
Other ftp functions let you login and close connections, as well as rename, delete, and get info on what's stored on an FTP server. For more functionality, consider compiling PHP with --enable-ftp to enable the full suite of FTP functions.