PHP dirname() Function Tutorial

PHP dirname() Function

About

In this code snippet, we’ll learn about the dirname() function in PHP.

The dirname() function takes in a path string and gives you the parent directory of it. A second parameter can be added where you can specify how many levels up you want to go.

Let’s see the example code below.

Code:

<?php

//__FILE__ contains the path of the current file.
$filePath = __FILE__;

echo "Current file path: " . $filePath;
echo "<br>";

//Gets the path of the parent directory.
echo "Parent dir. file path: " . dirname($filePath);
echo "<br>";

//You can use the last parameter to specify how many levels up you want to go. 
echo "Parent of parent dir. file path: " . dirname($filePath, 2);
echo "<br>";