Delete a file using unlink does not work

[angelali]

I want to delete a file, I'm using Windows XP, however, it gives me Permission Denied:

 

$file =$row['img'] ;
$filedel = "mages/".$file;
unlink ($filedel);

 

Is the code wrong? I tried setting permission to the folder but in vain...

[Alex]

I'd suggest reading the comments on the php manual page for unlink(), there's a fair amount of discussion about this error and the various things that could cause it there.

 

http://php.net/manual/en/function.unlink.php

[angelali]

I read everything there, I tried almost everything, but it is not deleting the fle. For example, I even put '@' before unlink, but in vain

[Alex]

@ is used to for error suppression, so that would hide the error but not fix it.

 

First I'd check to make sure your path is correct. Is it supposed to be "images/" and not "mages/" (just a guess  ).

 

After that I'd make sure that this file has proper permissions. This means the file must have write permissions to the directory you're trying to remove the file from.

[angelali]

well the path is correct, I name it to 'mages' itself. For the file permission, Im on Windows XP local host, and it's read only the folder. I will not be able to assign chmod on Windows if Im not mistaken! I was trying to change the file permissions but in vain...

[Alex]

If you don't know, Google it. A simple google for "windows file permissions" will yield you all you need.

 

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308419

[angelali]

I assigned full control on the folder, read, write etc....but the  problem remain...  :'(

[Alex]

The file needs to have the permissions.

[angelali]

I applied permissions to folder, files etc.... 

[PFMaBiSmAd]

It would probably help if you posted the complete actual error message.

[angelali]

Warning: unlink(images/) [function.unlink]: Permission denied in C:\xampp\htdocs\troll\includes\images.php on line 54

[PFMaBiSmAd]

Warning: unlink(images/) [function.unlink]: Permission denied in C:\xampp\htdocs\troll\includes\images.php on line 54

 

Your $file variable is either empty or doesn't exist at all and you are trying to unlink the images/ folder, not a file in that folder. Your code needs to check that you actually have retrieved data from your database before trying to use that data.

[angelali]

If I paste the full codes here, will you see them?

[mrMarcus]

If I paste the full codes here, will you see them?

Yes, but please hurry 'cause the suspense is killing me.

[angelali]

As you see, its a file upload system, where images are stored in a folder while its details in database..When the user will click on a button to delete the image, he does that by checking  check-boxes, he can delete multiple images by checking check-boxes. The deletion of images in database works PERFECTLY, except it does not delete the respective image/s in the folder...

 

<?php
//Connect to database 
$connect = mysql_connect('localhost', 'root', '') or die ('Connection Failed');
mysql_select_db('imgdatabase', $connect) or die ('Connection Failed');

//Display images
$display = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM photos WHERE email='$reg'");
echo "<form action='images.php' method='post'>";
echo "<table>
<tr>
<th>#</th>
<th>Your images</th>
<th>Image names</th>
<th><input type='submit' value='Delete'/></th>
</tr>";
echo "<hr/>";
while($row = mysql_fetch_array($display))
{
echo "<tr>";
echo "<td>".$row['img_ID']."</td>";
echo "<td><img src='upload/".$row['imgame']."' alt='alt text' width='200' height='150' class='thumb'/> </td>";
echo "<td><a href='upload/".$row['imgname']."' target='_blank'>".$row['imgname']."</a></td>";
echo '<td><input type="checkbox" name="delete[]" value="'.$row['img_ID'].'"/></td>';
echo "</tr>";
}
echo "</table>";
echo "</form>";

//Delete images details in database
if (isset($_POST['delete'])) {
foreach ($_POST['delete'] as $delete)
{
$ids[] = mysql_real_escape_string(strip_tags($delete));
}
mysql_query("DELETE FROM photos WHERE img_ID IN (".implode(',',$ids).")");

//Delete image in folder
$file =$row['imgname'] ;
$filedel = "images/".$file;
unlink ($filedel);
echo "File deleted";
}
mysql_close($connect);
?>

[mrMarcus]

It won't as long as you have

 

$file =$row['imgname'] ;

 

outside of your while() loop since $row is no longer available.

[mrMarcus]

I am also just noticing that you are displaying your images in a different directory than that of the one you're attempting to remove them from:

 

upload/

 

echo "<td><img src='upload/".$row['imgame']."' alt='alt text' width='200' height='150' class='thumb'/> </td>";

 

vs

 

images/

 

$filedel = "images/".$file;

 

Are you sure this is correct?

[angelali]

<?php
//Connect to database 
$connect = mysql_connect('localhost', 'root', '') or die ('Connection Failed');
mysql_select_db('imgdatabase', $connect) or die ('Connection Failed');

//Display images
$display = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM photos WHERE email='$reg'");
echo "<form action='images.php' method='post'>";
echo "<table>
<tr>
<th>#</th>
<th>Your images</th>
<th>Image names</th>
<th><input type='submit' value='Delete'/></th>
</tr>";
echo "<hr/>";
while($row = mysql_fetch_array($display))
{
echo "<tr>";
echo "<td>".$row['img_ID']."</td>";
echo "<td><img src='images/".$row['imgame']."' alt='alt text' width='200' height='150' class='thumb'/> </td>";
echo "<td><a href='images/".$row['imgname']."' target='_blank'>".$row['imgname']."</a></td>";
echo '<td><input type="checkbox" name="delete[]" value="'.$row['img_ID'].'"/></td>';
echo "</tr>";
}
echo "</table>";
echo "</form>";

//Delete images details in database
if (isset($_POST['delete'])) {
foreach ($_POST['delete'] as $delete)
{
$ids[] = mysql_real_escape_string(strip_tags($delete));
//Delete image in folder
$file =$row['imgname'] ;
$filedel = "images/".$file;
unlink ($filedel);
}
mysql_query("DELETE FROM photos WHERE img_ID IN (".implode(',',$ids).")");
echo "File deleted";
}
mysql_close($connect);
?>

 

Permission Denied again!

[angelali]

No its 'images' I changed it from 'upload'

[mrMarcus]

No its 'images' I changed it from 'upload'

 

You should update your code then, no?

 

And like I said, $row is not accessible outside of the while() loop that you have in your script.  They are two separate instances, first being the form display, second being if the $_POST['delete'] button has been pressed.  Those two blocks of code are not interacting with eachother in the manner that you are obviously thinking.

[angelali]

I updated it... Outside the while loop? I did put it inside, see the last ful codes above...is it wrong?

[mrMarcus]

You should really start indenting your code to make it more readable for yourself as it's still outside.  However, that block doesn't apply to your deletion block.

 

//Connect to database 
$connect = mysql_connect('localhost', 'root', '') or die ('Connection Failed');
mysql_select_db('imgdatabase', $connect) or die ('Connection Failed');

//Display images
$display = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM photos WHERE email='$reg'");
echo "<form action='images.php' method='post'>";
echo "<table>
<tr>
<th>#</th>
<th>Your images</th>
<th>Image names</th>
<th><input type='submit' value='Delete'/></th>
</tr>";
echo "<hr/>";
while($row = mysql_fetch_array($display)) {
echo "<tr>";
echo "<td>".$row['img_ID']."</td>";
echo "<td><img src='images/".$row['imgame']."' alt='alt text' width='200' height='150' class='thumb'/> </td>";
echo "<td><a href='images/".$row['imgname']."' target='_blank'>".$row['imgname']."</a></td>";
echo '<td><input type="checkbox" name="delete[]" value="'.$row['img_ID'].'"/></td>';
echo "</tr>";
}
echo "</table>";
echo "</form>";

//Delete images details in database
if (isset($_POST['delete'])) {
foreach ($_POST['delete'] as $delete) {
	$ids[] = mysql_real_escape_string(strip_tags($delete));
	//Delete image in folder
	$file =$row['imgname'] ;
	$filedel = "images/".$file;
	unlink ($filedel);
}
mysql_query("DELETE FROM photos WHERE img_ID IN (".implode(',',$ids).")");
echo "File deleted";
}
mysql_close($connect);
?>

 

There is your code, as-is, cleaned up.  You can now see that $row is not being set when a user tries to delete certain files.

[angelali]

So how to do it, help me... 

[mrMarcus]

//Connect to database 
$connect = mysql_connect('localhost', 'root', '') or die ('Connection Failed');
mysql_select_db('imgdatabase', $connect) or die ('Connection Failed');

//Display images
$display = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM photos WHERE email='$reg'"); // are you sanitizing $reg?
echo "<form action='images.php' method='post'>";
echo "<table>
<tr>
<th>#</th>
<th>Your images</th>
<th>Image names</th>
<th><input type='submit' value='Delete'/></th>
</tr>";
echo "<hr/>";
while($row = mysql_fetch_array($display)) {
echo "<tr>";
echo "<td>".$row['img_ID']."</td>";
echo "<td><img src='images/".$row['imgame']."' alt='alt text' width='200' height='150' class='thumb'/> </td>";
echo "<td><a href='images/".$row['imgname']."' target='_blank'>".$row['imgname']."</a></td>";
echo '<td><input type="checkbox" name="delete[]" value="'.$row['img_ID'].'"/></td>';
echo "</tr>";
}
echo "</table>";
echo "</form>";

//Delete images details in database
if (isset($_POST['delete'])) {
$ids = array_map('mysql_real_escape_string', $_POST['delete']);
$sql = "SELECT `imgname` FROM `photos` WHERE `img_ID` IN (". implode(',', $ids) .")";
if ($result = mysql_query($sql)) {
	if (mysql_num_rows($result) > 0) {
		while ($row = mysql_fetch_row($result)) {
			unlink('images/'. $row['imgname']);
		}
		$del = mysql_query("DELETE FROM photos WHERE img_ID IN (".implode(',', $ids).")");
	}
	else {
		echo 'Please select a file to delete.'; // you can change up your error handling to be showed to the user
	}
}
else {
	trigger_error(mysql_error()); // remove once everything is working
}
}
mysql_close($connect);
?>

 

Edit: had a typo ($res instead of $row)

[angelali]

Permission denied again  I passed 5 hours determining this damn problem, I have even broken 2 bottles because of this...