Delete folder and all files on FTP connection

Question

Trying to add the ability to delete a Folder using FTP and all subfolders and files contained within that folder.

I have built a recursive function to do so, and I feel like the logic is right, but still doesnt work.

I did some testing, I am able to delete on first run if the path is just an empty folder or just a file, but can't delete if it is a folder containing one file or a folder containing one empty subfolder. So it seems to be a problem with traversing through the folder(s) and using the function to delete.

Any ideas?

function ftpDelete($directory)
{
    if(empty($directory))//Validate that a directory was sent, otherwise will delete ALL files/folders
        return json_encode(false);
    else{
        global $conn_id;
        # here we attempt to delete the file/directory
        if( !(@ftp_rmdir($conn_id,$directory) || @ftp_delete($conn_id,$directory)) )
        {
            # if the attempt to delete fails, get the file listing
            $filelist = @ftp_nlist($conn_id, $directory);

            # loop through the file list and recursively delete the FILE in the list
            foreach($filelist as $file)
                ftpDelete($file);

            #if the file list is empty, delete the DIRECTORY we passed
            ftpDelete($directory);
        }
        else
            return json_encode(true);
    }
};

Answer 1

Ok found my problem. Since I wasn't moving into the exact directory I was trying to delete, the path for each recursive file being called wasn't absolute:

function ftpDeleteDirectory($directory)
{
    global $conn_id;
    if(empty($directory))//Validate that a directory was sent, otherwise will delete ALL files/folders
        return json_encode(false);
    else{
        # here we attempt to delete the file/directory
        if( !(@ftp_rmdir($conn_id,$directory) || @ftp_delete($conn_id,$directory)) )
        {
            # if the attempt to delete fails, get the file listing
            $filelist = @ftp_nlist($conn_id, $directory);
            # loop through the file list and recursively delete the FILE in the list
            foreach($filelist as $file)
            {
            //  return json_encode($filelist);
                ftpDeleteDirectory($directory.'/'.$file);/***THIS IS WHERE I MUST RESEND ABSOLUTE PATH TO FILE***/
            }

            #if the file list is empty, delete the DIRECTORY we passed
            ftpDeleteDirectory($directory);
        }
    }
    return json_encode(true);
};

Answer 2

I took some time to write my own version of a recursive delete function over ftp, this one should be fully functional (I tested it myself).

Try it out and modify it to fit your needs, if it's still not working there are other problems. Have you checked the permissions on the files you are trying to delete?

function ftp_rdel ($handle, $path) {

  if (@ftp_delete ($handle, $path) === false) {

    if ($children = @ftp_nlist ($handle, $path)) {
      foreach ($children as $p)
        ftp_rdel ($handle,  $p);
    }

    @ftp_rmdir ($handle, $path);
  }
}

Answer 3

function recursiveDelete($handle, $directory)
{   echo $handle;
    # here we attempt to delete the file/directory
    if( !(@ftp_rmdir($handle, $directory) || @ftp_delete($handle, $directory)) )
    {            
        # if the attempt to delete fails, get the file listing
        $filelist = @ftp_nlist($handle, $directory);
        // var_dump($filelist);exit;
        # loop through the file list and recursively delete the FILE in the list
        foreach($filelist as $file) {            
            recursiveDelete($handle, $file);            
        }
        recursiveDelete($handle, $directory);
    }
}

Answer 4

You have to check (using ftp_chdir) for every "file" you get from ftp_nlist to check if it is a directory:

foreach($filelist as $file)
{
    $inDir = @ftp_chdir($conn_id, $file);

    ftpDelete($file)

    if ($inDir) @ftp_cdup($conn_id);
}

This easy trick will work, because if ftp_chdir works, the current $file is actually a folder, and you've moved into it. Then you call ftpDelete recursively, to let it delete the files in that folder. Afterwards, you move back (ftp_cdup) to continue.