php script to delete files older than 24 hrs, deletes all files

<?php

/** define the directory **/
$dir = "images/temp/";

/*** cycle through all files in the directory ***/
foreach (glob($dir."*") as $file) {

/*** if file is 24 hours (86400 seconds) old then delete it ***/
if(time() - filectime($file) > 86400){
    unlink($file);
    }
}

?>

You can also specify file type by adding an extension after the * (wildcard) eg

For jpg images use: glob($dir."*.jpg")

For txt files use: glob($dir."*.txt")

For htm files use: glob($dir."*.htm")


(time()-filectime($path.$file)) < 86400

If the current time and file's changed time are within 86400 seconds of each other, then...

 if (preg_match('/\.pdf$/i', $file)) {
     unlink($path.$file);
 }

I think that may be your problem. Change it to > or >= and it should work correctly.


  1. You want > instead.
  2. Unless you're running on Windows, you want filemtime() instead.