How to Upload File in PHP

PHP is a very easy programming language to understand and to write code. We can upload single or multiple files in PHP with just a few lines of code.

PHP can handle uploaded files in POST request with below constants.

Index

$_FILES Super Global

$_FILES is a super global constant in PHP which contains all information of uploaded files. We can access that information with below constants.

$_FILES[‘filename’][‘name’]

It returns uploaded filename.

$_FILES[‘filename’][‘type’]

It returns MIME type of uploaded file.

$_FILES[‘filename’][‘size’]

It returns size of uploaded file in Bytes.

$_FILES[‘filename’][‘tmp_name’]

It returns temporary file name stored in temporary location at server.

$_FILES[‘filename’][‘error’]

It returns error if any.

PHP – move_uploaded_file() Function

This function moves the uploaded file from the temporary location to the given location on the server.

Syntax

move_uploaded_file ( string $temporary_location, string $destination_location );

1	move_uploaded_file ( string $temporary_location, string $destination_location );

Also read: How to force download file using PHP

PHP File Upload

Step 1: Create HTML Form To Upload File.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <body>
    <form action="upload_handle.php" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">  
      <label>Select File to Upload:</label>  
      <input type="file" name="uploaded_file"/>  
      <input type="submit" name="submit"/>  
    </form>
  </body>
</html>

<!DOCTYPE html>

<html>

<body>

<label>Select File to Upload:</label>

</form>

</body>

</html>

NOTE: enctype=”multipart/form-data” is required to handle uploaded file in php.

Step 2: Create PHP file to handle Uploaded File.

<?php  
$target_path = "YOUR_PATH";  
$target_path = $target_path.basename( $_FILES['uploaded_file']['name']);   
  
if(move_uploaded_file($_FILES['uploaded_file']['tmp_name'], $target_path)) {  
    echo "File uploaded successfully...";  
} else{  
    echo "Error, file not uploaded...";  
}  
?>

<?php

$target_path = "YOUR_PATH";

$target_path = $target_path.basename( $_FILES['uploaded_file']['name']);

if(move_uploaded_file($_FILES['uploaded_file']['tmp_name'], $target_path)) {

echo "File uploaded successfully...";

} else{

echo "Error, file not uploaded...";

}

Also read: PHP file upload using AJAX.