file_exists() returns false, but the file DOES exist

Question

I\'m having a very weird issue with file_exists(). I\'m using this function to check if 2 different files in the same folders do exist. I\'ve double-checked, they BOTH do ex

Answer 1

This answer may be a bit hacky, but its been working for me -

$file = 'path/to/file.jpg';
$file = $_SERVER['REQUEST_SCHEME'].'://'.$_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'].'/'.$file;
$file_headers = @get_headers($file);
if($file_headers[0] == 'HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found') {
    $exists = false;
}else{
    $exists = true;
}

apparently $_SERVER['REQUEST_SCHEME'] is a bit dicey to use with IIS 7.0 + PHP 5.3 so you could probably look for a better way to add in the protocol.

I found this answer here http://php.net/manual/en/function.file-exists.php#75064

Answer 2

It can also be a permission problem on one of the parent folders or the file itself.

Try to open a session as the user running your webserver and cd into it. The folder must be accessible by this user and the file must be readable.

If not, php will return that the file doesn't exist.