is_executable

(PHP 4, PHP 5)

is_executable — Tells whether the filename is executable

Description

bool is_executable ( string $filename )

Tells whether the filename is executable.

Parameters

filename: Path to the file.

Return Values

Returns TRUE if the filename exists and is executable, or FALSE on error.

Changelog

Version	Description
5.0.0	is_executable() became available with Windows

Examples

Example #1 is_executable() example


<?php

$file = '/home/vincent/somefile.sh';

if (is_executable($file)) {
    echo $file.' is executable';
} else {
    echo $file.' is not executable';
}

?>

Errors/Exceptions

Upon failure, an E_WARNING is emitted.

Notes

Note: The results of this function are cached. See clearstatcache() for more details.

Tip

As of PHP 5.0.0, this function can also be used with some URL wrappers. Refer to Supported Protocols and Wrappers to determine which wrappers support stat() family of functionality.


The change doesn't appear to be documented, so I thought I would mention it. In php5, as opposed to php4, you can no longer rely on is_executable to check the executable bit on a directory in 'nix. You can still use the first note's method to check if a directory is traversable: 

     @file_exists("adirectory/.");

david at littlesystems dot com dot au 01-Jun-2002 11:38


to test whether the directory /home/david is executable (regardless of whether it is readable or writeable), issue the command:

$my_isWriteable = @file_exists("/home/david/.")



the @ gets rid of the warning when this command fails when the directory is not executable.

add a note