help with making this faster

[Talguy]

i have written a recursive directory deleter and was wondering if anyone can help me make it faster. I know that recursion is slow natural but anything to help make it a little faster.

class fileManager
{
  private $dirPath;
  private $__errors = array();

  function fileManager($path)
  {
    $this->dirPath = $path;// <- this is the limiting Path for the deleteDir function
  }

  public function deleteDir($path='')
  {
    echo '<br/>'.$path;
    echo '<br/>'.$this->dirPath;
    if(!is_dir($this->dirPath)) {
      $this->__errors[$this->dirPath] = 'The directory['.$this->dirPath.'] does not exist';
      echo '<br/>Limit path is not a directory';
      return FALSE;
    }
    else {
      if($path == '')
        $path = $this->dirPath;
	$files = scandir($path);
	$limitPath_files = scandir($this->dirPath);
	if($path != '' && !is_dir($path)) {
	  $this->__errors[$path] = 'The directory['.$path.'] does not exist';
	  echo '<br/>Path is not a directory';
          return FALSE;
	}
	elseif($path == $this->dirPath && count($limitPath_files) < 3) {
	  rmdir($this->dirPath);
	  echo'<br/>deleting limit directory.';
	  return TRUE;
        }
	elseif($path == '' && count($limitPath_files) < 3) {
	  rmdir($this->dirPath);
	  echo '<br/>path null, limitPath < 3.  Deleting limitPath';
	  return TRUE;
	}
        else {
          echo '<br/>'.$path.'<br/>';
          if(!is_writable($path) || !is_readable($path)) {
	    $this->__errors[$path] = 'You do not have permissions to access '.$path;
	    return FALSE;
	  }
	  else {
            print_r($files);
            if(count($files) < 3) {
              rmdir($path);
	      echo '<br/>Deleting '.$path;
	    }
            else {
              foreach($files as $item) {
	        $nextPath = $path.'/'.$item;
		if($item == '.' || $item == '..') {    

		  echo '<br/>continued';
		  continue;
		}
		elseif(is_file($nextPath)) {        

		  echo '<br/>Deleted '.$item;
		  unlink($nextPath);
		}
		elseif(is_dir($nextPath)) {            

 		  echo '<br/>'.$item.' is directory';
		  $count = count(scandir($nextPath));
		  if($count < 3) {
		  echo '<br/>Deleting directory';
		  rmdir($nextPath);
		}
		else
		  $this->deleteDir($nextPath);     

	      }
	      else {
	        $this->__errors[$item] = $item.' is not a directory or file, can not do anything.';
		return FALSE;
	      }
	    }
	    echo '<br/>outside loop';

    $tempPath = explode('/', $oldPath);
        array_pop($tempPath);
    $newPath = implode('/', $tempPath);
    $this->deleteDir($newPath); 
  }
}
  }  
}
  }

} //end class

all the echo statements are for debuging purposes.

[lucasrd]

how about just doing something liek this:

exec("rm -fr " . $path);

It will do a force, recursive removal of the $path directory.

[Talguy]

i know what it does i was just writing it using php so that I could learn the language

[Weedpacket]

Well, you did say faster ... not "faster but still using pure PHP".

Stripping it down (things like diagnostics and permissions tests which could slow it down) to emphasise the structure:

function rmtree($directory)
{
	if(!is_dir($directory))
	{
		trigger_error("Unable to delete: not a directory.", E_USER_WARNING);
		return;
	}
	chdir($directory);
	rmtree_aux();
	chdir('..');
	rmdir($directory);
}


function rmtree_aux()
{
	foreach(scandir('.') as $entry)
	{
		if($entry=='.' || $entry=='..') continue;
		if(is_file($entry))
		{
echo'.....',$entry,"\n";
			unlink($entry);
		}
		else
		{
echo $entry,"\n";
			chdir($entry);
			rmtree_aux();
			chdir('..');
			rmdir($entry);
		}
	}
}

[Talguy]

sorry i guess that I did not word my title right, i'm not really sure if that one liner will work on my windows machine/ testing server since that is all i have and windows is what i primarily use for college and don't have enough time to switch between the 2. but i understand the last post of your and will use it.