[php] How to display images from a folder using php - PHP

You have two ways to do that:

METHOD 1. The secure way.

Put the images on /www/htdocs/

<?php
    $www_root = 'http://localhost/images';
    $dir = '/var/www/images';
    $file_display = array('jpg', 'jpeg', 'png', 'gif');

    if ( file_exists( $dir ) == false ) {
       echo 'Directory \'', $dir, '\' not found!';
    } else {
       $dir_contents = scandir( $dir );

        foreach ( $dir_contents as $file ) {
           $file_type = strtolower( end( explode('.', $file ) ) );
           if ( ($file !== '.') && ($file !== '..') && (in_array( $file_type, $file_display)) ) {
              echo '<img src="', $www_root, '/', $file, '" alt="', $file, '"/>';
           break;
           }
        }
    }
?>

METHOD 2. Unsecure but more flexible.

Put the images on any directory (apache must have permission to read the file).

<?php
    $dir = '/home/user/Pictures';
    $file_display = array('jpg', 'jpeg', 'png', 'gif');

    if ( file_exists( $dir ) == false ) {
       echo 'Directory \'', $dir, '\' not found!';
    } else {
       $dir_contents = scandir( $dir );

        foreach ( $dir_contents as $file ) {
           $file_type = strtolower( end( explode('.', $file ) ) );
           if ( ($file !== '.') && ($file !== '..') && (in_array( $file_type, $file_display)) ) {
              echo '<img src="file_viewer.php?file=', base64_encode($dir . '/' . $file), '" alt="', $file, '"/>';
           break;
           }
        }
    }
?>

And create another script to read the image file.

<?php
    $filename = base64_decode($_GET['file']);
    // Check the folder location to avoid exploit
    if (dirname($filename) == '/home/user/Pictures')
        echo file_get_contents($filename);
?>