Server-side languages...can PHP do it?

PHPJack27

Hello. I'm a newbie at creating a website (via RedHat 9...Apache)....here's what I'd like to do using PHP. My question will be written at the bottom.

The user logs into the website. He/she will set options to a form to get specific files.
Once the user press SUBMIT, the website calls up a script/code that will search through a drive and its files. The script/code will collect all the filepaths that fit the user's submitted form. To search for a qualified file, the script/code might have to look into the bits/bytes of the file. Thus require, heavy coding.
Then, with the collected filepaths, the website pulls up a form page that has a list of selected filepaths...so that makes it dynamic webpage. Beside those filepaths, there will be a check box for the user to select the item.
The user then, selects files to move to specified folder and press the submit button.
And finally, the website calls up another script/code that will copy the selected files (throught the selected filepaths) to another folder.

One question:
1. Can PHP do what I'm thinking of doing? Or do I have to use a Python script or something else?

Thank you for your help. I would greatly appreciate it.

rehfeld

php can definately do that

it can do pretty much anything other languages can do, the only difference is that some things are very easily done in 1 lang, but are more difficult/involved than in another lang.

but as far as if php is a good choice for this, i would def say yes. im not sure if it would be easier in python as im not familiar with it, but i think youd be suprised how little code would actually be needed for that using php.

PHPJack27

We are actually talking about three computers here. The first one is the web/PHP server, the second is the storage computer (where files are located) and third is the user's computer where pulls out the webpage.

I will have to mount the storage computer's drive to the local computer (where the web/PHP server resides). I want the website/PHP to search the files (bit/byte search level) in the mounted drive. The files aren't in the user's computer...website will be called in the user's local computer.

Just making sure....is what I'm trying to do, simple in PHP? Any suggestions on where I can start reading relevant PHP information?

Thank you for your reply.

rehfeld

php has lots of filesystem functions

http://www.php.net/filesystem

you can get a list of files in a directory by using
opendir()
or
glob()
or scandir() (php5 only)

you can read the contents of a file by using one of these

fopen()
file_get_contents()

and php can read files over a network if it has the permissions and its set up right.

when trying to match filenames, or contents in a file, youll want to use the string functions

http://www.php.net/strings

pretty much everything your doing is very straightforward. im sure google will help you find LOTS of examples of what your trying to do.

PHPJack27

Thanks for your suggestion...I'll start from there.

PHPJack27

Last question. Can PHP call other executables? For example, I create a C++ program (executable file) that will search a drive to find files and see if any of them matches the search criterions. If there is a match, the C++ program should create an output file for the PHP code to read.

So when I press a submit button to search for files, I want PHP to call up the C++ executable and feed it the search criterions. After a few moments, PHP will look for the output file generated by the C++ program create a page to display the found files.

PHPJack27

Heehee...nm. I found it in google with string "PHP: Program Execution Functions - Manual"