best way to sort images in a folder by date

[.Stealth]

What is the best way to sort images in a folder by date. Here's what i've got so far:

 

	$images = array();//set array ready for the images
	$handle = opendir($imagesFolder);//open directory handle

	while(false !== $fName = readdir($handle)){
		//get file path
		$fileInfo = pathinfo($imagesFolder.$fName);			
		//get and convert extension to lower case
		$extension = strtolower($fileInfo['extension']);

		//add jpg and png file types to array
		if($extension == 'jpg' || $extension == 'jpeg'){
			$images[] = $fName;
		}
		if($extension == 'png'){
			$images[] = $fName;
		}
	}

	$sortedImages = array();

	foreach($images AS $image){
		$fileTime =  filemtime($imagesFolder . $image);//get image creation time
		$sortedImages[] = array($fileTime => $image);
	}

	sort($sortedImages);
		foreach($sortedImages AS $sorted){
			foreach($sorted AS $key => $value){
				echo "<strong>Filetime:</strong> " . $key . " <strong>Filename:</strong> " . $value . "<br />";
			}
		}

 

All works well apart from the sorting part. It does sort something, but i'm assuming its just the size of the number. I didn't expect sort() to work but it was worth a shot.

 

This is what the above script outputs:

 

Filetime: 1268932652 Filename: 1.png

Filetime: 1261508122 Filename: 5.jpg

Filetime: 1268933066 Filename: 2.png

Filetime: 1268932936 Filename: 4.png

Filetime: 1268957350 Filename: 3.png

Filetime: 1261508126 Filename: 6.jpg

 

The files are created respective of their names. e.g 1.png was created first, 2.png was created second and so on.

 

How can i sort these based on the time they were created?

 

Thanks.

[ignace]

function getFilesByExtension($directory, $validExtensions) {
  $files = array();
  $directory = rtrim($directory, '\/') . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR;
  $dh = opendir($imagesFolder);
  while (false != ($file = readdir($dh))) {
    $extension = pathinfo($file, PATHINFO_EXTENSION);
    $extension = strtolower($extension);
    if (in_array($extension, $validExtensions)) {
      $files[] = $directory . $file;
    }
  }
  closedir($dh);
  return $files;
}

function usort_sortFilesByLastModifiedTimeHelper($file1, $file2) {
  $mtime1 = filemtime($file1);
  $mtime2 = filemtime($file2);
  
  if ($mtime1 === $mtime2) {
    return 0;
  }
  return $mtime1 < $mtime2 ? -1 : 1;
}

$images = getFilesByExtension($imagesFolder, array('jpg', 'jpeg', 'gif', 'png'));
usort($images, 'usort_sortFilesByLastModifiedTimeHelper');
print_r($images);

[.Stealth]

Thanks! I'll give it a go. Just trying to work everything out first before i attempt to write a function (i would reuse your code but i would rather know what's going on).

 

I think i understand it all apart from this bit:

 

  $directory = rtrim($directory, '\/') . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR;

 

What's with the DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR bit? I've never seen that done before, wont it just add that onto the end of the $directory string?

[ignace]

What's with the DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR bit? I've never seen that done before, wont it just add that onto the end of the $directory string?

 

Indeed it does.

 

$directory = rtrim($directory, '\/') . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR;

 

rtrim first removes the trailing slash if any and adds a trailing slash. This code makes sure that $directory contains a trailing slash before proceeding.

[.Stealth]

Ah i see.

 

Thanks for your help!