How to delete files created through POST in PHP after Expiry Time

Question

If I were to create a board like 4Chan. How could I make it so a post that would expire and be perm. deleted after 24 hours?

Here is what I have so far for saving the file:

    <?php
$allowedExts = array("gif", "jpeg", "jpg", "png");
$extension = end(explode(".", $_FILES["file"]["name"]));
if ((($_FILES["file"]["type"] == "image/gif")
|| ($_FILES["file"]["type"] == "image/jpeg")
|| ($_FILES["file"]["type"] == "image/jpg")
|| ($_FILES["file"]["type"] == "image/pjpeg")
|| ($_FILES["file"]["type"] == "image/x-png")
|| ($_FILES["file"]["type"] == "image/png"))
&& ($_FILES["file"]["size"] < 20000)
&& in_array($extension, $allowedExts))
  {
  if ($_FILES["file"]["error"] > 0)
    {
    echo "Return Code: " . $_FILES["file"]["error"] . "<br>";
    }
  else
    {
    echo "Upload: " . $_FILES["file"]["name"] . "<br>";
    echo "Type: " . $_FILES["file"]["type"] . "<br>";
    echo "Size: " . ($_FILES["file"]["size"] / 1024) . " kB<br>";
    echo "Temp file: " . $_FILES["file"]["tmp_name"] . "<br>";

    if (file_exists("upload/" . $_FILES["file"]["name"]))
      {
      echo $_FILES["file"]["name"] . " already exists. ";
      }
    else
      {
      move_uploaded_file($_FILES["file"]["tmp_name"],
      "upload/" . $_FILES["file"]["name"]);
      echo "Stored in: " . "upload/" . $_FILES["file"]["name"];
      }
    }
  }
else
  {
  echo "Invalid file";
  }
?>

All help is appreciated!

What you "have so far" is just copy and pasted code, not pretty good code mind you. You need to think about your actual goal (uploaded images != posts), and google a bit further. — mario, May 26 '13 at 22:51
Do you have a database to store information about the posts? — Barmar, May 26 '13 at 22:51

score 1 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:43

Based on the code you have added, I suspect you are looking for a file based approach.

Nevertheless, as stated in the comments, it would also be good to have a database such as MYSQL to store your data.

Additionally, in your tags and question you don't specify important information such as: on which operating system.

Neverthess less, based on your code that your creating files, here are resources related to deleting files created after X amount of time:

And also related to scheduled tasks and cron:

How to delete files created through POST in PHP after Expiry Time

1 Answers1