Moves a file to a new location.

• Checks if $source and $dest are valid and readable/writable.
• Performs a file move if $source is not equal to $dest.
• If file already exists in $dest either the call will error out, replace the file or rename the file based on the $replace parameter.

Parameters

$source: Either a string specifying the file location of the original file or an object containing a 'filepath' property. This parameter is passed by reference and will contain the resulting destination filename in case of success.

$dest: A string containing the directory $source should be copied to. If this value is omitted, Drupal's 'files' directory will be used.

$replace: Replace behavior when the destination file already exists.

• FILE_EXISTS_REPLACE: Replace the existing file.
• FILE_EXISTS_RENAME: Append _{incrementing number} until the filename is unique.
• FILE_EXISTS_ERROR: Do nothing and return FALSE.

Return value

TRUE for success, FALSE for failure.

Related topics

File

drupal-6.x/includes/file.inc, line 416

API for handling file uploads and server file management.

Code

function file_move(&$source, $dest = 0, $replace = FILE_EXISTS_RENAME) {
  $path_original = is_object($source) ? $source->filepath : $source;

  if (file_copy($source, $dest, $replace)) {
    $path_current = is_object($source) ? $source->filepath : $source;

    if ($path_original == $path_current || file_delete($path_original)) {
      return 1;
    }
    drupal_set_message(t('The removal of the original file %file has failed.', array('%file' => $path_original)), 'error');
  }
  return 0;
}