Page 296 - Beginning PHP 5.3

Part III: Using PHP in Practice
Here ’ s a full list of the elements stored in each nested array within the $_FILES array:

Array Element Description

name The filename of the uploaded file.
type The MIME type of the uploaded file. For example, a JPEG image would
probably have a MIME type of image/jpeg , whereas a QuickTime movie file
would have a MIME type of video/quicktime .
size The size of the uploaded file, in bytes.

tmp_name The full path to the temporary file on the server that contains the uploaded
file. (All uploaded files are stored as temporary files until they are needed.)
error The error or status code associated with the file upload.

The error element contains an integer value that corresponds to a built - in constant that explains the
status of the uploaded file. Possible values include:

Constant Value Meaning
UPLOAD_ERR_OK 0 The file was uploaded successfully.

UPLOAD_ERR_INI_SIZE 1 The file is bigger than the allowed file size specified
in the upload_max_filesize directive in the php.
ini file.
UPLOAD_ERR_FORM_SIZE 2 The file is bigger than the allowed file size specified
in the MAX_FILE_SIZE directive in the form.

UPLOAD_ERR_NO_FILE 4 No file was uploaded.
UPLOAD_ERR_NO_TMP_DIR 6 PHP doesn ’ t have access to a temporary folder on
the server to store the file.

UPLOAD_ERR_CANT_WRITE 7 The file couldn ’ t be written to the server ’ s hard disk
for some reason.

UPLOAD_ERR_EXTENSION 8 The file upload was stopped by one of the currently
loaded PHP extensions.

Most of these error codes are self - explanatory. UPLOAD_ERR_INI_SIZE and UPLOAD_ERR_FORM_SIZE are
explained in the following section.

Limiting the Size of File Uploads

Often it ’ s a good idea to prevent unusually large files being sent to the server. Apart from consuming
bandwidth and hard disk space on the server, a large file can cause your PHP script to overload the
server ’ s CPU. For example, if your PHP script is designed to work on an uploaded 10 - kilobyte text file,
uploading a 100 - megabyte text file might cause your script some problems.
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