PHP basic upload file script

Question

This is my first time attempting to upload a file via PHP.

Here is my HTML:

<form role="form" action="api/upload.php" id="uploadForm" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">
   <input id="fileToUpload" name="fileToUpload" type="file" class="file" />
   <button type="submit" name="submit" id="submit">Upload</button>
</form>

Now here is the PHP script in reference "api/upload.php":

<?php
$target_dir = "files\\";

if(isset($_POST["submit"])) {
$target_file = $target_dir . basename($_FILES["fileToUpload"]["name"]);
$uploadOk = 1;
}

if (file_exists($target_file)) {
echo "Sorry, file already exists.";
$uploadOk = 0;
}

if ($_FILES["fileToUpload"]["size"] > 500000) {
echo "Sorry, your file is too large.";
$uploadOk = 0;
}

if ($uploadOk == 0) {
echo $uploadOk . "Sorry, your file was not uploaded.";
} else {
  if (move_uploaded_file($_FILES["fileToUpload"]["name"], $target_file)) {
   echo "The file ". basename( $_FILES["fileToUpload"]["name"]). " has been uploaded.";
  } else{
     echo "Sorry, there was an error uploading your file.";
  }
} 
?>

This may be a logic error. I'm not sure. Regardless, I keep getting the message:

Sorry, there was an error uploading your file

When I echo out $uploadOk, it remains as 1. How can I find my error?

Clearly the move_uploaded_file() operation failed. What are the runtime values of the arguments to that function? Does the target directory exist? Can the PHP process write to it? — David
– David, Commented Aug 25, 2016 at 19:26
Your error messages are WRONG. your actual message should be "your file was uploaded, but there was a problem moving it". which means you should investigate WHY the move call failed. And note that your overall uplaod checking needs work too. You simply assume uploads never fail. There's a ['error'] parameter in $_FILES for a reason. check for data in $_FILES doesn't mean an upload succeeded. Failed uploads will STILL populate $_FILES. but unless ['error'] is 0 (aka UPLOAD_ERR_OK), you can't TRUST any of the other $_FILES information. — Marc B
– Marc B, Commented Aug 25, 2016 at 19:27
The form is on the main page. The PHP script is in a folder. I have another folder called 'files'. — John Beasley
– John Beasley, Commented Aug 25, 2016 at 19:29
Have you checked to make sure you are getting a string for $_FILES["fileToUpload"]["name"]? And are you sure you shouldn't be using $_FILES["fileToUpload"]["tmp_name"]? — segFault
– segFault, Commented Aug 25, 2016 at 19:35

Capital C · Accepted Answer · 2016-08-25 22:38:47Z

2

Use $_FILES["fileToUpload"]["tmp_name"] instead of $_FILES["fileToUpload"]["name"]

Should be

move_uploaded_file($_FILES["fileToUpload"]["tmp_name"], $target_file);

Notes:-

$_FILES["fileToUpload"]["name"] is just the name of the uploaded file. $_FILES["fileToUpload"]["tmp_name"] is the temporary file that holds the content.

Hope this helps.

[Edit 1]

I was wrong about adding a value="submit" attribute to the button. name="submit" attribute is sufficient for the isset($_POST["submit")) check.

edited Aug 25, 2016 at 22:38

answered Aug 25, 2016 at 20:05

Capital C

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