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    is_executable

    (PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 7, PHP 8)

    is_executable — Tells whether the filename is executable

    Description

    function is_executable(string $filename): bool

    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. On POSIX systems, a file is executable if the executable bit of the file permissions is set. For Windows, see the note below.

    Errors/Exceptions

    Upon failure, an E_WARNING is emitted.

    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';
}

?>

    Notes

    Note:

    For local files, the result of this function is not cached and the file is checked again on every call. For paths using other wrappers the result is 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.

    Note:

    On Windows, a file is considered executable, if it is a properly executable file as reported by the Win API GetBinaryType(); for BC reasons, files with a .bat or .cmd extension are also considered executable. Prior to PHP 7.4.0, any non-empty file with a .exe or .com extension was considered executable. Note that PATHEXT is irrelevant for is_executable().

    See Also

    • is_file() - Tells whether the filename is a regular file
    • is_link() - Tells whether the filename is a symbolic link

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    User Contributed Notes 5 notes

    up
    6
    divinity76 at gmail dot com
    7 years ago
    is_executable() does not check the PATH environment variable, so if your current working dir is /dir/ and you have /bin/ in your PATH env and the file /bin/ffmpeg exists, then you can still run shell_exec("ffmpeg"), but is_executable("ffmpeg") will return false.

if you're looking for a version of is_executable that also considers the PATH environment variable, then try this:

<?php

function is_executable_pathenv(string $filename): bool
{
    if (is_executable($filename)) {
        return true;
    }
    if ($filename !== basename($filename)) {
        return false;
    }
    $paths = explode(PATH_SEPARATOR, getenv("PATH"));
    foreach ($paths as $path) {
        if (is_executable($path . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . $filename)) {
            return true;
        }
    }
    return false;
}
    up
    12
    Shyammakwana.me
    10 years ago
    For windows users, 

It will return TRUE for EXE extensions. I have checked for MSI, but it returns FALSE.
    up
    2
    nick at NOSPAM dot ogredata dot com
    6 years ago
    This function returns the value for the process PHP is executing under.

/var/somebody/files was only executable by owner (700).

It contained world-readable files, but without execute permission, PHP could not access the directory to download the files.

is_executable() returned false.

Making the dir world-executable (701) gave access to PHP.  The download worked. And is_executable() returned true.

I assume that if I added PHP to the group of the folder and gave the group executable permission, that would also work.
    up
    -2
    telezhkin at gmail dot com
    7 years ago
    Find no mention of this, but is_executable returns result for owner permissions only (not for group or other).
    up
    -4
    Anonymous
    6 years ago
    Under windows, it seems to returns always false for directories.

I.e

<?php
$dir = __DIR__;
$result = is_executable($dir) ? 'true' : 'false';

if($result){
  echo $result;
}
?>

So do NOT use this to check if a folder is transversable because it will be system dependant code.
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