<!-- The data encoding type, enctype, MUST be specified as below -->
<form enctype="multipart/form-data" action="__URL__" method="POST">
<!-- MAX_FILE_SIZE must precede the file input field -->
<input type="hidden" name="MAX_FILE_SIZE" value="30000" />
<!-- Name of input element determines name in $_FILES array -->
Send this file: <input name="userfile" type="file" />
<input type="submit" value="Send File" />
</form>
The MAX_FILE_SIZE hidden field (measured in bytes) must precede the file input field, and its value is the maximum filesize accepted by PHP. This form element should always be used as it saves users the trouble of waiting for a big file being transferred only to find that it was too large and the transfer failed. Keep in mind: fooling this setting on the browser side is quite easy, so never rely on files with a greater size being blocked by this feature. It is merely a convenience feature for users on the client side of the application. The PHP settings (on the server side) for maximum-size, however, cannot be fooled.
$_FILES['userfile']['name']: The original name of the file on the client machine.
$_FILES['userfile']['type']: The mime type of the file, if the browser provided this information. An example would be "image/gif". This mime type is however not checked on the PHP side and therefore don't take its value for granted.
$_FILES['userfile']['size']: The size, in bytes, of the uploaded file.
$_FILES['userfile']['tmp_name']: The temporary filename of the file in which the uploaded file was stored on the server.
$_FILES['userfile']['error']: The error code associated with this file upload.
Files will, by default be stored in the server's default temporary directory, unless another location has been given with the upload_tmp_dir directive in php.ini. The server's default directory can be changed by setting the environment variable TMPDIR in the environment in which PHP runs. Setting it using putenv() from within a PHP script will not work. This environment variable can also be used to make sure that other operations are working on uploaded files, as well.
See also the function entries for is_uploaded_file() and move_uploaded_file() for further information. The following example will process the file upload that came from a form.
If no file is selected for upload in your form, PHP will return $_FILES['userfile']['size'] as 0, and $_FILES['userfile']['tmp_name'] as none.
Uploading Multiple Files:
<form action="file-upload.php" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">
Send these files:<br />
<input name="userfile[]" type="file" /><br />
<input name="userfile[]" type="file" /><br />
<input type="submit" value="Send files" />
</form>
When the above form is submitted, the arrays $_FILES['userfile'], $_FILES['userfile']['name'], and $_FILES['userfile']['size'] will be initialized. Each of these will be a numerically indexed array of the appropriate values for the submitted files. For instance, assume that the filenames /home/test/review.html and /home/test/xwp.out are submitted. In this case, $_FILES['userfile']['name'][0] would contain the value review.html, and $_FILES['userfile']['name'][1] would contain the value xwp.out. Similarly, $_FILES['userfile']['size'][0] would contain review.html's file size, and so forth. $_FILES['userfile']['name'][0], $_FILES['userfile']['tmp_name'][0], $_FILES['userfile']['size'][0], and $_FILES['userfile']['type'][0] are also set.
