Sort a directory by filename only showing the latest file of each type based on the name

[ginkworm]

I have these files in a directory and can easily list to a webpage 

 

Daily_CD_20130902.xml
Daily_CD_20130903.xml
Daily_CO_20130902.xml
Daily_CO_20130903.xml
Daily_CU_20130902.xml
Daily_CU_20130903.xml
Daily_EQ_20130902.xml
Daily_EQ_20130903.xml
Daily_IR_20130902.xml
Daily_IR_20130903.xml

 

However, i want to be selective and just select the most recent of each type, so instead of the whole list i want to display

 

Daily_CD_20130903.xml
Daily_CO_20130903.xml
Daily_CU_20130903.xml
Daily_EQ_20130903.xml
Daily_IR_20130903.xml

 

Is there an easy way to do this or do i need to take apart the filename, put the date in a date object and then use it to sort. 

 

my current code is:

 

public function getFiles() {

 

        //return String, form as HTML later

        $return = "";

 

        // create a resrouce pointing to the directory with the files in it on disk

        $dir = opendir('DIRECTORY');

 

        //path to that directory that is appended to the URL

        $actualdir = 'PATH FROM WEBSERVER ROOT';

 

        // read the directory looping over the files and populate to an array

        while ($entryName = readdir($dir)){

            $dirArray[] = $entryName;

        }

 

        //close the directory as we don't need it anymore

        closedir($dir);

 

        //make a note of how many items are in the directory

        $indexCount = count($dirArray);

 

        //loop through the files building up a list of links

        for($index=0; $index < $indexCount; $index++) {

 

            if($dirArray[$index] !="." && $dirArray[$index] !=".."){

                $return .=  "<a href='"."$actualdir".$dirArray[$index]."'>".$dirArray[$index]."</a><br/>";

            }

        }

 

        return $return;

 

}

 

any help is appreciated as this is my first day of PHP

[Psycho]

Try this:

 

public function getFiles()
{
    // create a resrouce pointing to the directory with the files in it on disk
    $dir = opendir('DIRECTORY');

    //path to that directory that is appended to the URL
    $actualdir = 'PATH FROM WEBSERVER ROOT';
 
    // read the directory looping over the files and populate into
    // two arrays: one to tracjk the data and one to track the name
    $typesByDate = array();
    $typesByName = array();
    while ($fileName = readdir($dir))
    {
        //Skip directories
        if(!is_file($fileName)) { continue; }
        //Get type and date from file name
        $type = substr($fileName, 6, 2);
        $date = substr($fileName, 6, ;
        //If no file set for this type or date is newer than last saved, add it
        if(!isset($typesByDate[$type]) || $typesByDate[$type] < $date)
        {
             $typesByDate[$type] = $date;
             $typesByName[$type] = $fileName;
        }
    }

    //close the directory as we don't need it anymore
    closedir($dir);
 
    //loop through the files building up a list of links
    $return = '';
    foreach($typesByName as $file)
    {
        $return .=  "<a href='{$actualdir}{$file}'>{$dirArray[$file}</a><br/>";
    }
 
    return $return;
}