Need just a little bit of help with this line of code

[$Three3]

Hey everyone, I have been reading a php book and following all of the examples in the book but I am stuck on this one line. I actually understand the hardest part of this script but not the simple part. Here is the code:

 

<?php

date_default_timezone_set('US/Central') ;

//Scan directories
$searchDirectory = '.' ;
$directoryScan = scandir($searchDirectory) ;

//Create a list of directories first
echo "<h2>Directories</h2>" ;

echo "<ul>" ;

//Access the contents of the directory
foreach ($directoryScan as $contents) {
if ((is_dir($contents)) AND (substr($contents , 0 , 1) != '.')) {
echo "<li>$contents</li>" ;
}
}

echo "</ul>" ;

//Create Files header
echo "<hr /><h1>Files</h1>" ;

//Create Table
echo '<table cellpadding="2" cellspacing="10" align="left">' ;
//Create Files Row
echo "<tr>
	 <td><b><u>Name</u></b></td>
	  <td><b><u>Size</u></b></td>
	  <td><b><u>Last Modified</u></b></td>
	  <td><b><u>File Permissions</u></b></td>
	  <td><b><u>File Owner</u></b></td>
	  <td><b><u>File Last Accessed</u></b></td>
 </tr>" ;

//Access the files in the directory
foreach ($directoryScan as $contents) {
if ((is_file($contents)) AND (substr($contents, 0 , 1) != '.')) {
	//Create File Size & Last Mod date
	$fs = filesize($contents) ;
	$lm = date('F j, Y' , filemtime($contents)) ;
	$fp = fileperms($contents) ;
	$fo = fileowner($contents) ;
	$fla = date('F j, Y' , fileatime($contents)) ;
	//Print Out Data
	echo "<tr>
		      <td>$contents</td>
			  <td>$fs</td>
			  <td>$lm</td>
			  <td>$fp</td>
			  <td>$fo</td>
			  <td>$fla</td>
		  </tr>" ;
}
}

echo "</table>" ;

?>

 

What is confusing me is this line:

 

if ((is_dir($contents)) AND (substr($contents , 0 , 1) != '.')) {

 

I understand that whole line but what I do not understand is the part with the '.' period. What does this mean? Thanks in advance for the help.

[salathe]

Well $contents is the name of a file or folder within the directory. The part of the if which is substr($contents, 0, 1) != '.' is simply saying if the first character in $contents is not a dot/period.  The '.' is just a PHP string containing a dot, nothing magical or special.

[$Three3]

Well $contents is the name of a file or folder within the directory. The part of the if which is substr($contents, 0, 1) != '.' is simply saying if the first character in $contents is not a dot/period.  The '.' is just a PHP string containing a dot, nothing magical or special.

 

Hey thanks for the reply. Okay I understand that now but what I do not understand is why you would want to make sure that variable $contents is not equal to a dot/period? Thanks again man

[salathe]

The contents of the folder will have special traversal "folders" called . and .. (for current and parent folders respectively) and also "hidden" files are commonly a prefixed with a dot.  Take a look at the scandir manual page.

[$Three3]

The contents of the folder will have special traversal "folders" called . and .. (for current and parent folders respectively) and also "hidden" files are commonly a prefixed with a dot.  Take a look at the scandir manual page.

 

Awesome. I understand now. Thanks a lot for that link and for your time and help. Appreciate it