Directory operations

S3 Transfer Manager can handle entire directory transfers.

Upload directory

S3 Transfer Manager can upload an entire directory to an S3 bucket. <Are the key values the filenames when uploaded?>

<?php

use Aws\S3\S3Transfer\Models\UploadDirectoryRequest;
use Aws\S3\S3Transfer\S3TransferManager;

require __DIR__ . '/../vendor/autoload.php';


$transferManager = new S3TransferManager(null, [
    'default_region' => 'us-west-2'
]);

$uploadDirPromise = $transferManager->uploadDirectory(
    new UploadDirectoryRequest(
        '/path/to/local/directory',
        'amzn-s3-demo-bucket',
        [
            // Additional `putObject` parameters that apply to all files.
            'ACL'          => 'public-read',
            'CacheControl' => 'max-age=3600',
        ],
        [
            // Configuration options.
            'recursive'                      => true,
            'follow_symbolic_links'          => false,
            's3_prefix'                      => 'uploads/2023/',
            's3_delimiter'                   => '/',
            'track_progress'                 => true,
            'filter'                         => function ($file) {
                // Upload only .jpg files.
                return pathinfo($file, PATHINFO_EXTENSION) === 'jpg';
            },
            'upload_object_request_modifier' => function ($args) {
                // Customize request arguments for each file.
                $args['ContentType'] = 'image/jpeg';
            },
        ]
    )
);

// Wait for the upload process to complete.
$result = $uploadDirPromise->wait();

$uploaded = $result->getObjectsUploaded();
$failed = $result->getObjectsFailed();
echo "Uploaded {$uploaded} files. Failed: {$failed}\n";

uploadDirectory method parameters

The uploadDirectory method accepts an instance of UploadDirectoryRequest<add link> as an argument.

UploadDirectoryRequest parameters

When the uploadDirectory method runs successfully, it returns an UploadDirectoryResult <add link>.

Download directory

You can download a directory from an S3 bucket. <Are the filenames the key values when downloaded? If there is no extension in the key, is there also no extension on the file?>

<?php

use Aws\S3\S3Transfer\Models\DownloadDirectoryRequest;
use Aws\S3\S3Transfer\S3TransferManager;

require __DIR__ . '/../vendor/autoload.php';


$transferManager = new S3TransferManager(null, [
    'default_region' => 'us-west-2'
]);

$downloadDirPromise = $transferManager->downloadDirectory(
    new DownloadDirectoryRequest(
        'amzn-s3-demo-bucket',
        '/path/to/local/directory',
        [
            // Additional `getObject` parameters that apply to all files.
        ],
        [
            // Configuration options.
            's3_prefix'                        => 'uploads/2023/',
            's3_delimiter'                     => '/',
            'track_progress'                   => true,
            'filter'                           => function ($key) {
                // Download only .jpg files.
                return pathinfo($key, PATHINFO_EXTENSION) === 'jpg';
            },
            'download_object_request_modifier' => function ($args) {
                // Customize request arguments for each file.
                $args['ResponseContentType'] = 'image/jpeg';
            },
            'list_objects_v2_args'              => [
                'MaxKeys' => 1000,
                'Prefix'  => 'uploads/2023/',
            ],
            'fails_when_destination_exists'    => true,
        ]
    )
);

// Wait for the download process to complete.
$result = $downloadDirPromise->wait();

$downloaded = $result->getObjectsDownloaded();
$failed = $result->getObjectsFailed();
echo "Downloaded {$downloaded} files. Failed: {$failed}\n";

downloadDirectory method parameters

The downloadDirectory method accepts an instance of DownloadDirectoryRequest<add link> as an argument.

DownloadDirectoryRequest parameters

How directory operations work

This section explains how the S3 Transfer Manager handles file paths and object keys during directory operations.

Upload path handling

When you upload a directory, the SDK constructs S3 object keys from file paths:

The recursive option controls whether subdirectories are included. When false (default), only top-level files are uploaded. When true, all files in subdirectories are uploaded, preserving the directory structure in object keys.

$sourceDirectory = "/opt/my-upload-directory";
$s3Prefix = "important/";
$s3Delimiter = "/"; // Default value

/opt/my-upload-directory/
-- my-file1.txt
-- my-file-2.txt
-- sub-dir/
---- my-another-file1.txt
---- my-another-file2.txt

$s3Prefix + $fileRelativePath;

- important/my-file1.txt
- important/my-file-2.txt
- important/sub-dir/my-another-file1.txt
- important/sub-dir/my-another-file2.txt

$sourceDirectory = "/opt/my-docs";
$s3Prefix = ''; // No provided and it will defaulted to empty string
$s3Delimiter = "/"; // Default value

/opt/my-docs/
-- my-file1.txt
-- my-file-2.txt
-- sub-dir/
---- my-another-file1.txt
---- my-another-file2.txt

$s3Prefix + $fileRelativePath;

- my-file1.txt
- my-file-2.txt
- sub-dir/my-another-file1.txt
- sub-dir/my-another-file2.txt

<?php
// Source directory: /home/user/photos/
//   fla/beach.jpg
//   fla/sunset.jpg
//   fla/pool/party.jpg
// With s3_prefix: '2023' and recursive: true
// Results:
//   2023/fla/beach.jpg
//   2023/fla/sunset.jpg
//   2023/fla/pool/party.jpg

Download path handling

When you download a directory, the SDK constructs local file paths from S3 object keys:

Downloads are always recursive. The SDK retrieves all objects under the specified prefix and creates subdirectories as needed. It validates that paths don't resolve outside the destination directory for security.

<?php
// S3 objects:
//   2023/fla/beach.jpg
//   2023/fla/sunset.jpg
//   2023/fla/pool/party.jpg
// With s3_prefix: '2023' and destination: /home/user/downloads
// Results:
//   /home/user/downloads/fla/beach.jpg
//   /home/user/downloads/fla/sunset.jpg
//   /home/user/downloads/fla/pool/party.jpg

$s3Prefix = "my-prefix";
$s3Objects = [
    "my-prefix/file-1.txt", 
    "my-prefix/file-2.txt", 
    "my-prefix/subdir/file-1.txt"
];
$targetDirectory = "/opt/bucket/downloads/";

/opt/bucket/downloads/
-- file-1.txt
-- file-2.txt
-- subdir/
---- file-1.txt

$s3Prefix = ""; // No provided
$s3Objects = [
    "README.md",
    "my-docs/file-1.txt", 
    "my-docs/file-2.txt", 
    "my-docs/statements/file-1.txt"
];
$targetDirectory = "/opt/bucket/downloads/";

/opt/bucket/downloads/
-- README.md
-- my-docs/
---- file-1.txt
---- file-2.txt
---- statements/
------ file-1.txt