Question

The code used below will take 10 random files from any of the 3 folders listed in GLOB_BRACE.

eg:

$files = (glob('../{folder1,folder2,folder3}/*.php', GLOB_BRACE)); 

i would like to echo the folder name in the url seen below $thelist

$thelist .= '<p><a href="../'.$folder 1 or 2 or 3.'/'.$file.'">'.$title.'</a></p>';

So when it’s displayed on my page it reads.

<p><a href="../folder1/page-name.php">what ever</a></p>
<p><a href="../folder3/page-name.php">what ever</a></p>
<p><a href="../folder1/page-name.php">what ever</a></p>
<p><a href="../folder2/page-name.php">what ever</a></p>
<p><a href="../folder1/page-name.php">what ever</a></p>
<p><a href="../folder3/page-name.php">what ever</a></p>
<p><a href="../folder2/page-name.php">what ever</a></p>
<p><a href="../folder3/page-name.php">what ever</a></p>
<p><a href="../folder1/page-name.php">what ever</a></p>
<p><a href="../folder2/page-name.php">what ever</a></p>

Code used:

<?php 
$files = (glob('../{folder1,folder2,folder3}/*.php', GLOB_BRACE)); /* change php to the file you require either html php jpg png. */
shuffle($files);
$selection = array_slice($files, 0, 11);

foreach ($selection as $file) {
    $file = basename($file);
    if ($file == 'index.php') continue;

    $title = str_replace('-', ' ', pathinfo($file, PATHINFO_FILENAME));
        $randomlist .= '<p><a href="../'.$folder 1 or 2 or 3.'/'.$file.'">'.$title.'</a></p>';
    }
?>
<?=$randomlist?>

Answer 1

The glob() will return the directory and filename. Therefore if you don’t reassign $file to basename($file), the entire string will remain intact for output. You can still check basename() in the if() condition to continue.

foreach ($selection as $file) { 
  // Call basename() in the if condition, but don't reassign the variable $file
  if (basename($file) == 'index.php') continue;

  $title = str_replace('-', ' ', pathinfo($file, PATHINFO_FILENAME));
  // Using the full `$file` in the HTML output. No need for basename() or dirname().
  // Using htmlentities to encode the file path for an HTML attribute
  $randomlist .= '<p><a href="' . htmlentities($file, ENT_QUOTES) . '">'.$title.'</a></p>';
}