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Copy a file from one directory to another in PHP

📅October 5, 2020
🗁PHP

In this article, we will explain to you how to copy a file from one directory to another in PHP. In the upcoming articles, we’ll also show you how to rename, move or delete a file using PHP.

Copy a file using PHP

Using the built-in function `copy()`, we can copy a file in the same directory or one to another directory. It's a very simple and easy way to copy a file using PHP.

This function requires two required arguments: the first one is the source path (A file path of file which wants to be copied) and second one is the destination path (A file path where copy a file). The `copy()` function returns a true on success otherwise false as a boolean value.

Note: If the source file already exists in the destination folder then it will be overwritten.

Let’s check the syntax and simple examples.

Syntax

bool copy( string $source, string $destination [, resource $context ] )

Parameters

  • $source: It specifies the file path that you want to copy.
  • $destination: It specifies the file path where you want to copy.
  • $context: This is an optional parameter. It specifies the context resource created with the `stream_context_create()` function.

Example 1: Copy a file in the same directory

In the following example, we will see how to copy a file named `file1.txt` to `file2.txt` in the same directory.

<!--?php
$filepath = './file1.txt';
$newfilepath = './file2.txt';<p-->

if(copy($filepath, $newfilepath)){
   echo "File has been copied";
} else {
   echo "Failed to copy file";
}
?>

Example 2: Copy a file from one directory to another.

In this second example, we will copy a file from one directory to another directory. The code for both examples is the same, only the paths are different.

<!--?php
$filepath = '../directory1/file1.txt';
$newfilepath = '../directory2/file2.txt';<p-->

if(copy($filepath, $newfilepath)){
   echo "File has been copied";
} else {
   echo "Failed to copy file";
}
?>

That’s it for today.
Thank you for reading. Happy Coding..!!