check if files exists and provides a link to it php

Question

I want to check if a directory contains a specific file(any type, image, pdf etc.) or not. If it contains the file, I want to provide a download link for this file, otherwise print "not exist" . Unfortunately, my code is printing not exist all the time even if the file exists in the directory. Here is my code:

                <td>  <?php

if (file_exists('plans/'.$RID)) {
  echo"<a href='plans/$RID'>Plan</a>";
} else {
    echo "not exists";
}
?>  </td>

here is another code I also tried it but doesn't work:

<td>  <?php
    $plan= 'plans/'.$RID;
    if (file_exists($plan)) {
      echo"<a href='plans/$RID'>Plan</a>";
    } else {
        echo "not exists";
    }
    ?>  </td>

Answer 1

Provide an absolute path as parameter of your function :

If your script path is parent of plans directory, parameter could be __DIR__ . '/plans' __DIR__ . '/plans' for example.

edit : To catch file with some extensions, you can create an array containing allowed extensions.

<td><?php
$extensionsAllowed = ['jpg','pdf','png']; //complete it
foreach ($extensionsAllowed as $extension){    
    if (file_exists( __DIR__ . 'plans/'.$RID.'.'.$extension)) {
      echo '<a href="plans/'.$RID.'.'.$extension.'" download>Plan</a>';
    } else {
      echo "not exists";
    }
?>  </td>

Answer 2

If plans is directory where you have your php file which is used for checking file then there is no need to put plans in file_exists alongside your filename

<td>  
<?php

if (file_exists($RID)) {
      echo"<a href='plans/$RID'>Plan</a>";
    } else {
        echo "not exists";
    }
?>

</td>

Otherwise you can do it like this,

<?php

$Path = $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'].'/plans/'.$RID;

if (file_exists($Path)) {
      echo"<a href='plans/$RID'>Plan</a>";
    } else {
        echo "not exists";
    }
?>

</td>

Answer 3

change from

<td>  
<?php

if (file_exists('plans/'.$RID)) {
  echo"<a href='plans/$RID'>Plan</a>";
} else {
    echo "not exists";
}
?>  
</td>

to

<td>  
<?php

if (!file_exists('plans/'.$RID)) {
   mkdir('plans/'.$RID, 0777, true);
   echo"<a href='plans/$RID'>Plan</a>";  
}
?>  
</td>