How to download files with illegal characters in the filename?

MsXgAmEs

I have files with the following names:

doc#001.zip
doc#002.zip
doc#003.zip etc.

Users can click to download these files. I get the name (doc#001) from a database and I add the '.zip' manually:

if (file_exists('./'.$myrow["fullname"].'.zip')) { ... }

When executing this example php doesn't recognize the file. I found out that the '#' is the reason. Without the '#', file_exists returns true. I guess that the '#' is one of the forbidden characters.

The problem is that the filenames are all fixed. How can I let php recognize the files and make file_exists = TRUE, when there is a '#' in the filename?

MsXgAmEs

Is this a difficult question?

Is this a stupid question?

Anyone needs more information?

What is the problem?

Phantazm

It's not a stupid question, I think there's all the information needed.

And yes, It seems to be a difficult question, since no one seems to know the answer.

And I'm not trying to be a smart @$$... just trying to let you know the most likely reason no one has answered your question. There are some GREAT minds here, and if someone sees your post and knows the answer, they will speak. 🙂

leatherback

Hi,

I have not worked at all with wildcards (Such as an asterics) and I am not sure wether they are supported by PhP. But it might be the road to solutions?

Just one of my 2 cents..

Excellent problem by the way!

IWS

Put a backslash in front of the # sign. Escaping odd characters with backslashes will solve the problem every time.

if (file_exists('./'.str_replace('#','#',$myrow["fullname"]).'.zip')) { ... }

MsXgAmEs

Thx all for your replies. Due to the answers, I could solve the problem. To give a / the solution:

if (file_exists('./'.str_replace('#','%23',$myrow["fullname"]).'.zip')) { ... }

Where %23 is the hexadecimal code for '#'.

Thanks again. It works! 🙂