Question

I have a folder on my server called /assets/includes/updates/ with .php files inside featuring static html content.

I’d like to randomly grab a file from this folder and echo it into a div. Here is what I have:

<?php
 function random_update($dir = $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'].'/assets/includes/updates/')
{
    $files = glob($dir . '/*.*');
    $file = array_rand($files);
    return $files[$file];
}
?>

<div class="my-div">
 <?php echo random_update(); ?>
</div><!--end my-div-->

I am getting 500 errors? Also, my intention is to only echo 1 file at a time. Will the provided code accomplish that?

Answer 1

Php does not recognize the syntax you used. You have to bypass it like this:

<?php
function random_update($dir = NULL)
{
    if ($dir === NULL) {
        $dir = $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . '/assets/includes/updates/';
    }

    $files = glob($dir . '/*.*');
    $file = array_rand($files);
    return $files[$file];
}

Also, you might want to enable error dumping in your development environment so you know what went wrong next time.