regex or something to find a file in php

I have a name in a database, lets say its "DFectuoso" and some legacy system stored DFectuoso_randomnameofafile.doc.

Now I want to find all the filed "DFectuoso" owns and display links to them in a PHP page.

What would be the way to start on this?

From stackoverflow

• I'd try with glob() in combination with readfile().

  Off the top of my head:

  $findname = 'DFectuoso';
  foreach (glob('/path/to/somewhere/'.$findname.'*') as $file) {
    provide_a_link_to($file);
  }
  

  and just pass the file with readfile().

  Remember, if you are using $_GET to pass the chosen file to the user, sanitize and validate the permissions first. Don't do just readfile($_GET['chosenFile']); or you'll get in trouble!

  Mark Biek : My first thought was an exec() call to 'find'. Your way is much better.

• A good way is using glob().

  $files = glob("PATH_TO_FILES/DFectuoso_*.doc");
  echo "<ul>\n";
  foreach($files as $f)
      echo '<li><a href="'.$f.'">'.$f."</a></li>\n";
  echo "</ul>\n";
  

• In case it's not as simple as finding files with a certain prefix, you can do something like this:

  $files = glob('*');
  
  function filter_files($filename) {
      // Do any processing you want on the filename here
      $file_matches = preg_match('/^DFectuoso.*\.(doc|txt)$/', $filename);
      return $file_matches;
  }
  
  $found_files = array_filter($files, 'filter_files');