How to check if File Exists in PHP ? Last Updated : 23 Jul, 2025 Comments Improve Suggest changes Like Article Like Report To check whether any file is existing or not then we can use the below-mentioned PHP function. To find the existence of the files, we use file_exists() function. This function is used to check whether a file or directory exists or not. Syntax: file_exists( $path ) Parameters: This function accept only one parameter $path. It specifies the path of the file or directory you want to check. Return Value: It returns True on success and false on failure. Errors And Exception: The file_exists() function returns False if the path specified points to non-existent files. For files larger than 2gb, some of the filesystem functions may give unexpected results since PHP’s integer type is signed and many platforms use 32bit integers. Example: Suppose there exists a file named "file1.php". Let's check the existence of files "file1.php". PHP <?php $filename = "file1.php"; if (file_exists($filename)) { echo "File exist."; } else { echo "File does not exist."; } ?> Output File exist. Create Quiz Comment A akshitsaxenaa09 Follow 0 Improve A akshitsaxenaa09 Follow 0 Improve Article Tags : Web Technologies PHP PHP-file-handling PHP-function PHP-Questions +1 More Explore BasicsPHP Syntax4 min readPHP Variables5 min readPHP | Functions6 min readPHP Loops4 min readArrayPHP Arrays5 min readPHP Associative Arrays4 min readMultidimensional arrays in PHP5 min readSorting Arrays in PHP4 min readOOPs & InterfacesPHP Classes2 min readPHP | Constructors and Destructors5 min readPHP Access Modifiers4 min readMultiple Inheritance in PHP4 min readMySQL DatabasePHP | MySQL Database Introduction4 min readPHP Database connection2 min readPHP | MySQL ( Creating Database )3 min readPHP | MySQL ( Creating Table )3 min readPHP AdvancePHP Superglobals6 min readPHP | Regular Expressions12 min readPHP Form Handling4 min readPHP File Handling4 min readPHP | Uploading File3 min readPHP Cookies9 min readPHP | Sessions7 min read Like