php man page for dir

DIR(3)									 1								    DIR(3)

dir - Return an instance of the Directory class

SYNOPSIS
       Directory dir (string  $directory, [resource  $context])

DESCRIPTION
	A pseudo-object oriented mechanism for reading a directory. The given $directory is opened.

PARAMETERS
	      o $directory
		- Directory to open

	      o $context
		-

	      Note

		     Context support was added with PHP 5.0.0. For a description of contexts, refer to "Streams".

RETURN VALUES
	Returns an instance of Directory, or NULL with wrong parameters, or FALSE in case of another error.

EXAMPLES
       Example #1

	      dir(3) example

	       Please  note  the  fashion  in  which  Directory.read(3)'s  return value is checked in the example below. We are explicitly testing
	      whether the return value is identical to (equal to and of the same type as - see	Comparison Operators for more  information)  FALSE
	      since otherwise, any directory entry whose name evaluates to FALSE will stop the loop.

	      <?php
	      $d = dir("/etc/php5");
	      echo "Handle: " . $d->handle . "
";
	      echo "Path: " . $d->path . "
";
	      while (false !== ($entry = $d->read())) {
		 echo $entry."
";
	      }
	      $d->close();
	      ?>

	      The above example will output something similar to:

	      Handle: Resource id #2
	      Path: /etc/php5
	      apache
	      cgi
	      cli

NOTES
       Note

	       The order in which directory entries are returned by the read method is system-dependent.

PHP Documentation Group 														    DIR(3)