PHP program to delete a file

Last update on April 16 2025 12:54:02 (UTC/GMT +8 hours)

8. Delete a File

Write a PHP program that deletes a specific file from the server.

Sample Solution:

PHP Code :

<?php
$filename = "i:/data/test.txt";

try {
    if (file_exists($filename)) {
        if (unlink($filename)) {
            echo "File deleted successfully.";
        } else {
            throw new Exception("Error deleting the file.");
        }
    } else {
        throw new Exception("File does not exist.");
    }
} catch (Exception $e) {
    echo "An error occurred: " . $e->getMessage();
}
?>

Sample Output:

File deleted successfully.

Explanation:

In the above exercise, we have a $filename variable that holds the name of the file we want to delete.

Inside the try block, we first check if the file exists using file_exists(). If it exists, we use the unlink() function to delete the file. If the deletion operation succeeds, we display a success message. If the deletion fails, we throw an exception with the error message "Error deleting the file."

If the file does not exist, we throw an exception with the error message "File does not exist."

In the catch block, we catch the exception and display an error message using $e->getMessage().

Flowchart:

For more Practice: Solve these Related Problems:

Write a PHP script to delete all files in a directory that are older than a specified number of days.
Write a PHP function to safely delete a file after confirming its deletion with a user prompt.
Write a PHP program to traverse a directory and delete files that match a specific file extension.
Write a PHP script to delete a file and then confirm its removal by checking the file system.

PHP Code Editor:

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