Tutorial: Create a zip file from folders on the fly
For a future project I needed these days some easy to use zip or gzip class to create a zip file from files / folders inside a specified directory. A short search on Google has lead me to the Create ZIP File PHP class from Rochak Chauhan. I tested two other scripts before and must say that this script works great for single files if you add them manually.
To compress a whole directory with an unknown number of files into one zip file I created some class extension to get this job done.
I used some directory functions (opendir, readdir) to get all the files from the specified directory. Inside each directory there are files and “real directories” and directory locations. We need only the real directories. We test each value with “is_file”, “is_dir” and we filter off the directory directions (”.” and “..”). After the “file” is identified, the files content is added to the “addFile” object and for other directories the method “get_file_from_folder” is called again.
class createDirZip extends createZip { function get_files_from_folder($directory, $put_into) { if ($handle = opendir($directory)) { while (false !== ($file = readdir($handle))) { if (is_file($directory.$file)) { $fileContents = file_get_contents($directory.$file); $this->addFile($fileContents, $put_into.$file); } elseif ($file != '.' and $file != '..' and is_dir($directory.$file)) { $this->addDirectory($put_into.$file.'/'); $this->get_files_from_folder($directory.$file.'/', $put_into.$file.'/'); } } } closedir($handle); } }
To get the files and sub directories from some directory we use this code:
$createZip = new createDirZip; $createZip->addDirectory('themes/'); $createZip->get_files_from_folder('blog/wp-content/themes/', 'themes/');
We need create an object from the extension we have just created. Next we need only to define the base directory (which is used in the zip file) and the path to the directory. With this we are able to output the zip file:
$fileName = 'tmp/archive.zip'; $fd = fopen ($fileName, 'wb'); $out = fwrite ($fd, $createZip->getZippedfile()); fclose ($fd); $createZip->forceDownload($fileName); @unlink($fileName);
Via the method “getZippedfile” all content is added to the file (archive.zip) and the method “forceDownload” will send the created zip file to the browser.
I think this simple function is very helpful if you like to offer the public some dynamic files inside a directory or just to “zip – mail – backup” some directories from your web server using CRON.
Check also this forum thread if you need some help.
Some important update!
After using the same script on two of my websites I got some complains from some (mac) users with the problem that they can’t open the downloaded zip files. While the download via Firefox on Windows and Linux (even most of the time with IE) works fine is this not a the best solution. I checked some other classes but didn’t find a similar solution. My advice is to use the the zip application via the command line:
exec(’zip -r test.zip your_folder/’);
This is not the same as in this tutorial but will work for most of the machines. Actually is this solution much better even for bigger files…
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Comments
ColdFusion Code:
<cfzip action=”zip” source=”#ExpandPath(’./CF8/’)#” file=”#ExpandPath(’./CF8.zip’)#” overwrite=”true”>
That’s really cool – didn’t know it could be done !
Just out of interest – what are you using this script for?
@Rochak,
thanks for the offer! (I’m thinking about to release a PHP5 branche)
Edit: the code has already a PHP5 coding style …
I tried using the above technique to produce a zip archive from a directory and it all seems to have worked except the resulting zip archive is invalid. The file that’s created has a size that seems appropriate for the files that have been placed in the zip, but it won’t open. I realize this probably isn’t the best place for support, but I thought I’d leave a note and see if anyone responded. Thanks!
Very nice and useful tutorial, thanks for sharing. I like this and also i give the link of this tutorial on my blog
I have tried out but it does not work.May I am not using it properly.I have many hours in understanding and fixing the problem but it does not work !!
I have made a simple php file ( 0-make-zip.php) and put up your code in it ) .(edit: removed the link)
What I want to do is that I want take the manually take the backup of my root folder “public_html” using your script.
Can some body help ! If it works than it will useful in way that anytime backup of a folder can be taken on the fly.
[ I do not want to use the CPanel inbuilt option of backup as it takes the backup of all the files and folder and is time intensive ]
Hi Olaf,
It is on Linux server ( with Cpanel control panel ) with php5 support.
(edit: don’t provide temp. links)
Also I am posting at the forum same time.
Regards,
Ajay
Hi, I had similar unexpected ‘.’ problem which I solved by changing the quotes in the code as they are not displayed here as single quotes. But I have a similar problem as I want to backup my public_html directory but when I download the zip file it has the directory (in my case backup) but no files inside, any ideas???
Thanks,
Sean.
Lol, Sean! I think we’ve all made those silly little mistakes at 1 time or another. Informative article even still. Kudos!
I implemented whole thing as directed and got a zipped file, but when i tried to unzip it an error occured telling that it is corrupt.
i am working on windows platform and using php5
I am trying to learn how to zip files and sub files, i am taking a class on Microsoft Office and one of my assignments are to create and zip a file and 3 subfiles can someone tell me how to do so
thank you
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Tutorial: Create a zip file from folders on the fly…
Creating zip files on a web server is a feature which could be very useful for backups or just for offering an unknown number of dynamic files or folder inside of a directory. This tutorial shows us how handle that with only a few rows of PHP code!…