How to delete a file from the public folder in Laravel?

You can make use of the File facade class. To work with File facade you need to include the class as shown below −

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\File;

Here is a list of examples that shows how to delete the files from the public folder.

The files details in the public folder are as follows – 

Example 1

To delete files using delete() method from File façade. The delete() method will delete the files given. It can take a single file or an array of files as an input. You can delete a single file from the public folder as shown below −

<?php
namespace App\Http\Controllers;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use App\Models\User;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Storage;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\File;

class UserController extends Controller{
   public function index() {
      $images = \File::allFiles(public_path('images'));
      $deletedFile = File::delete(app_path().'/images/'.$images[1]->getFilename());
      if ($deletedFile == null) {
         echo "File deleted";
      }
   }
}

Output

The output of the above code is −

File deleted

Inside the public folder, you will see the file img1.jpg is not present.

Example 2

Using unlink() method in php

unlink(): it helps to delete the given file. If there is a symbolic reference to the file name given the same is deleted too.

<?php
namespace App\Http\Controllers;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use App\Models\User;

class UserController extends Controller {
   public function index() {
      if (file_exists(public_path('images/img3.jpg'))){
         $filedeleted = unlink(public_path('images/img3.jpg'));
         if ($filedeleted) {
            echo "File deleted";
         }
      } else {
         echo 'Unable to delete the given file';
      }
   }
}

Output

The output of the above code is −

File deleted

The files inside the public folder are as follows −

Example 3

The following example shows how to delete a folder inside a public folder. The deleteDirectory() method from File Facade is used to delete a folder. The files along with the folder are completely removed by this method.

<?php
namespace App\Http\Controllers;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use App\Models\User;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\File;

class UserController extends Controller{
   public function index() {
      $cssfolder = public_path('css');
      $folderdetails = File::deleteDirectory($cssfolder);
      print_r($folderdetails);
   }
}

Output

The output of the above code is −

1

The public_folder is as follows −

Example 4

Another example is that helps to delete multiple files from a given folder. To test let us add a folder inside the public folder as shown below −

A folder testjs/ is added inside the public folder. Let us delete all the files present in it.

<?php
namespace App\Http\Controllers;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use App\Models\User;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Storage;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\File;

class UserController extends Controller {
   public function index() {
      $files = File::allFiles(public_path('testjs'));
      print_r($files);
      foreach ($files as $file) {
         $deletedFile = File::delete(public_path('testjs/'.$file->getFilename()));
      }
   }
}

Output

The output of the above code is

Array(
   [0] => Symfony\Component\Finder\SplFileInfo Object(
      [relativePath:Symfony\Component\Finder\SplFileInfo:private] =>
      [relativePathname:Symfony\Component\Finder\SplFileInfo:private] => script2.js
      [pathName:SplFileInfo:private] => C:\xampp\htdocs\laraveltest\public\testjs\script2.js
      [fileName:SplFileInfo:private] => script2.js
   )

   [1] => Symfony\Component\Finder\SplFileInfo Object(
      [relativePath:Symfony\Component\Finder\SplFileInfo:private] =>
      [relativePathname:Symfony\Component\Finder\SplFileInfo:private] => scripts.js
      [pathName:SplFileInfo:private] => C:\xampp\htdocs\laraveltest\public\testjs\scripts.js
      [fileName:SplFileInfo:private] => scripts.js
   )
)