file_exists but filenames contain spaces

[geekpie]

Hi
This is all in a loop in CLI php in XP.

is there a way round this problem (note space in filename before '[' ):

$newfile = '"'.$path_info['filename'] . ' [Compatibility Mode].pdf"';
while (!file_exists($newfile)){
echo "Waiting for file to exist " . $newfile;
}

The file never exists (and it does, after it's created by PDFCreator).

But if I subsitute the value in $newfile, it works, ie

while (!file_exists("abc [Compatibility Mode].pdf")){

exits the loop once abc [Compatibility Mode].pdf is created

[mblack0508]

well here is the problem, you're trying to use " around the space. The issue with that is you're treating the filename as you would in a shell, which btw that doesnt work in bash. PHP on the other hand like any other language does a look up on the file system, where spaces are allowed.

So in other words, here is the fix to your script.

$newfile = $path_info['filename'] . ' [Compatibility Mode].pdf';
while (!file_exists($newfile)){
echo "Waiting for file to exist " . $newfile;
}

[mblack0508]

In your example, on a linux system you would say delete a file with a space this way

rm -rf abc\ [Comp...].pdf

If you tried this below, it would fail

rm -rf "abc [Comp...].pdf"