PHP- ALTERNATIVE TO THE DEPRECIATED MIME_CONTENT_TYPE FUNCTION AND FILEINFO FUNCTIONS

You’ve probably landed on this page because you want to find the Content-type of a file by using the mime_content_type function. But when you tried using the function, you were returned with a PHP error because it’s a depreciated function (PHP 4). Then you may have tried to use the Fileinfo function (am alternative suggested by the PHP website), but then realised you haven’t got the PHP Fileinfo extension/library installed (because you were returned with an error again). So what’s your alternative?

Possible solutions

• Firstly, if you’re running off a dedicated sever or VPS, you could install the Fileinfo extension. However, if you’re on hosted on a shared server, your hosting provider may not install the extension for you. But it might be worth trying to contact them to get it installed first.
• The second solution is to write your own function, which is the code I’m going to provide in this blog post

Write your own mime_content_type Function

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if (!function_exists('mime_content_type')) { function mime_content_type($filename) { $idx = explode( '.', $filename ); $count_explode = count($idx); $idx = strtolower($idx[$count_explode-1]);   $mimet = array( 'ai' =>'application/postscript', 'aif' =>'audio/x-aiff', 'aifc' =>'audio/x-aiff', 'aiff' =>'audio/x-aiff', 'asc' =>'text/plain', 'atom' =>'application/atom+xml', 'avi' =>'video/x-msvideo', 'bcpio' =>'application/x-bcpio', 'bmp' =>'image/bmp', 'cdf' =>'application/x-netcdf', 'cgm' =>'image/cgm', 'cpio' =>'application/x-cpio', 'cpt' =>'application/mac-compactpro', 'crl' =>'application/x-pkcs7-crl', 'crt' =>'application/x-x509-ca-cert', 'csh' =>'application/x-csh', 'css' =>'text/css', 'dcr' =>'application/x-director', 'dir' =>'application/x-director', 'djv' =>'image/vnd.djvu', 'djvu' =>'image/vnd.djvu', 'doc' =>'application/msword', 'dtd' =>'application/xml-dtd', 'dvi' =>'application/x-dvi', 'dxr' =>'application/x-director', 'eps' =>'application/postscript', 'etx' =>'text/x-setext', 'ez' =>'application/andrew-inset', 'gif' =>'image/gif', 'gram' =>'application/srgs', 'grxml' =>'application/srgs+xml', 'gtar' =>'application/x-gtar', 'hdf' =>'application/x-hdf', 'hqx' =>'application/mac-binhex40', 'html' =>'text/html', 'html' =>'text/html', 'ice' =>'x-conference/x-cooltalk', 'ico' =>'image/x-icon', 'ics' =>'text/calendar', 'ief' =>'image/ief', 'ifb' =>'text/calendar', 'iges' =>'model/iges', 'igs' =>'model/iges', 'jpe' =>'image/jpeg', 'jpeg' =>'image/jpeg', 'jpg' =>'image/jpeg', 'js' =>'application/x-javascript', 'kar' =>'audio/midi', 'latex' =>'application/x-latex', 'm3u' =>'audio/x-mpegurl', 'man' =>'application/x-troff-man', 'mathml' =>'application/mathml+xml', 'me' =>'application/x-troff-me', 'mesh' =>'model/mesh', 'mid' =>'audio/midi', 'midi' =>'audio/midi', 'mif' =>'application/vnd.mif', 'mov' =>'video/quicktime', 'movie' =>'video/x-sgi-movie', 'mp2' =>'audio/mpeg', 'mp3' =>'audio/mpeg', 'mpe' =>'video/mpeg', 'mpeg' =>'video/mpeg', 'mpg' =>'video/mpeg', 'mpga' =>'audio/mpeg', 'ms' =>'application/x-troff-ms', 'msh' =>'model/mesh', 'mxu m4u' =>'video/vnd.mpegurl', 'nc' =>'application/x-netcdf', 'oda' =>'application/oda', 'ogg' =>'application/ogg', 'pbm' =>'image/x-portable-bitmap', 'pdb' =>'chemical/x-pdb', 'pdf' =>'application/pdf', 'pgm' =>'image/x-portable-graymap', 'pgn' =>'application/x-chess-pgn', 'php' =>'application/x-httpd-php', 'php4' =>'application/x-httpd-php', 'php3' =>'application/x-httpd-php', 'phtml' =>'application/x-httpd-php', 'phps' =>'application/x-httpd-php-source', 'png' =>'image/png', 'pnm' =>'image/x-portable-anymap', 'ppm' =>'image/x-portable-pixmap', 'ppt' =>'application/vnd.ms-powerpoint', 'ps' =>'application/postscript', 'qt' =>'video/quicktime', 'ra' =>'audio/x-pn-realaudio', 'ram' =>'audio/x-pn-realaudio', 'ras' =>'image/x-cmu-raster', 'rdf' =>'application/rdf+xml', 'rgb' =>'image/x-rgb', 'rm' =>'application/vnd.rn-realmedia', 'roff' =>'application/x-troff', 'rtf' =>'text/rtf', 'rtx' =>'text/richtext', 'sgm' =>'text/sgml', 'sgml' =>'text/sgml', 'sh' =>'application/x-sh', 'shar' =>'application/x-shar', 'shtml' =>'text/html', 'silo' =>'model/mesh', 'sit' =>'application/x-stuffit', 'skd' =>'application/x-koan', 'skm' =>'application/x-koan', 'skp' =>'application/x-koan', 'skt' =>'application/x-koan', 'smi' =>'application/smil', 'smil' =>'application/smil', 'snd' =>'audio/basic', 'spl' =>'application/x-futuresplash', 'src' =>'application/x-wais-source', 'sv4cpio' =>'application/x-sv4cpio', 'sv4crc' =>'application/x-sv4crc', 'svg' =>'image/svg+xml', 'swf' =>'application/x-shockwave-flash', 't' =>'application/x-troff', 'tar' =>'application/x-tar', 'tcl' =>'application/x-tcl', 'tex' =>'application/x-tex', 'texi' =>'application/x-texinfo', 'texinfo' =>'application/x-texinfo', 'tgz' =>'application/x-tar', 'tif' =>'image/tiff', 'tiff' =>'image/tiff', 'tr' =>'application/x-troff', 'tsv' =>'text/tab-separated-values', 'txt' =>'text/plain', 'ustar' =>'application/x-ustar', 'vcd' =>'application/x-cdlink', 'vrml' =>'model/vrml', 'vxml' =>'application/voicexml+xml', 'wav' =>'audio/x-wav', 'wbmp' =>'image/vnd.wap.wbmp', 'wbxml' =>'application/vnd.wap.wbxml', 'wml' =>'text/vnd.wap.wml', 'wmlc' =>'application/vnd.wap.wmlc', 'wmlc' =>'application/vnd.wap.wmlc', 'wmls' =>'text/vnd.wap.wmlscript', 'wmlsc' =>'application/vnd.wap.wmlscriptc', 'wmlsc' =>'application/vnd.wap.wmlscriptc', 'wrl' =>'model/vrml', 'xbm' =>'image/x-xbitmap', 'xht' =>'application/xhtml+xml', 'xhtml' =>'application/xhtml+xml', 'xls' =>'application/vnd.ms-excel', 'xml xsl' =>'application/xml', 'xpm' =>'image/x-xpixmap', 'xslt' =>'application/xslt+xml', 'xul' =>'application/vnd.mozilla.xul+xml', 'xwd' =>'image/x-xwindowdump', 'xyz' =>'chemical/x-xyz', 'zip' =>'application/zip' );   if (isset( $mimet[$idx] )) { return $mimet[$idx]; } else { return 'application/octet-stream'; } } }   //$mm_type will return the content type (note, I still use the original function name mime_content_type) $mm_type = mime_content_type($filepath);   ?>