Title: Custom upload folder
Last modified: September 1, 2016

---

# Custom upload folder

 *  Resolved [Guido](https://wordpress.org/support/users/guido07111975/)
 * (@guido07111975)
 * [9 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/custom-upload-folder-4/)
 * Hi,
 * I want to upload files to an additional upload folder. All files with ‘canada’
   in their name.
 * I use [upload_dir](https://codex.wordpress.org/Plugin_API/Filter_Reference/upload_dir)
   to create a custom upload folder:
 *     ```
       function custom_upload_dir( $custom_dir ) {
       	$dir = WP_CONTENT_DIR . '/userfiles';
       	$url = WP_CONTENT_URL . '/userfiles';
   
       	$bdir = $dir;
       	$burl = $url;
   
       	$custom_dir = array(
       		'path'    => $dir,
       		'url'     => $url,
       		'basedir' => $bdir,
       		'baseurl' => $burl,
       		'error'   => false,
       	);
       	return $custom_dir;
       }
       add_filter( 'upload_dir', 'custom_upload_dir' );
       ```
   
 * Now **all** uploaded files are listed in the userfiles directory.
 * So I thought including this does the trick:
 *     ```
       $mystring = $_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"];
       $findme = 'canada';
       $pos = strpos($mystring, $findme);
   
       if ($pos === true) {
       ```
   
 * But no!
 * I notice this in codex:
 * > Using this, in conjunction with the wp_handle_upload_prefilter, you can dynamically
   > determine which directory to upload to, based on the files you upload.
 * But, how can I do that?
 * Guido

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

 *  Moderator [bcworkz](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bcworkz/)
 * (@bcworkz)
 * [9 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/custom-upload-folder-4/#post-7703754)
 * Yeah, that one’s a little tricky. ‘wp_handle_upload_prefilter’ gives you file
   information, but nothing about the final destination path. ‘upload_dir’ gives
   you the final destination path, but no file information. Some clue about how 
   to resolve this would have been useful.
 * Untested, but it should work:
    Hook ‘wp_handle_upload_prefilter’ to determine
   if the file being uploaded needs special handling or not. If nothing special 
   is required, return without doing anything. If special path handling is required,
   add a filter hook to ‘upload_dir’ that returns the desired special path. You 
   could conceivably manage several special paths by having a different ‘upload_dir’
   callback for each path. The ‘wp_handle_upload_prefilter’ callback decides which
   path callback to add based on whatever file criteria makes sense.
 * Either way, return the file data unchanged, we’re not changing anything in ‘wp_handle_upload_prefilter’,
   it’s just a convenient launch point for selectively adding another filter since
   all the file data is available.
 * It’d be a good idea to also have the ‘upload_dir’ callback remove itself from
   the filter stack so it doesn’t erroneously change the path of any other subsequent
   upload that might occur during the same request. This may be the case with multiple
   file uploads from a single POST request. If uploads are always single files this
   is probably not necessary, but I like to remove selectively added callbacks prior
   to returning no matter what. It’s part of the “always clean up after yourself”
   coding maxim I always try to follow.
 *  Thread Starter [Guido](https://wordpress.org/support/users/guido07111975/)
 * (@guido07111975)
 * [9 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/custom-upload-folder-4/#post-7703782)
 * Hi BC,
 * Thanks for your response.
 * Maybe I have to look for an alternative, cause this seems a bit tricky (in case
   of multiple file uploads) and difficult to build. That might also be the reason
   why I wasn’t able to find my answer online.
 * Could create a custom post type + attach file upload. But I only need the file,
   not the post content.
 * In short, I have to find a way to upload certain files to a second upload folder.
 * Guido
 *  Moderator [bcworkz](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bcworkz/)
 * (@bcworkz)
 * [9 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/custom-upload-folder-4/#post-7703791)
 * You might consider doing without WP at all for handling the upload. There’s plenty
   of examples online on how this is done in PHP. The initial form where the user
   selects the file to upload can be a WP page or something, but the form would 
   submit directly to a PHP script page that handles moving the file from the temp
   folder to where it belongs. This will work fine as long as you do not try to 
   use any WP functions in the script.
 * Beware though, allowing file uploads can be a huge security risk depending on
   the type of file and the permissions assigned. Some aggressive file validation
   is in order to prevent hack attacks. IMO, the security implications are a lot
   more tricky to deal with than the selective filter hook scheme I suggested. OTOH,
   if done well, a custom upload routine is probably more secure than WP methods.
 * Another thought, you could let WP put the file where it normally would, then 
   use PHP to move it to where it really belongs. Moving files (as opposed to copying)
   is pretty fast and efficient. The ‘wp_handle_upload’ filter should work for this.
   Returning an updated file data array should take care of any references to the
   file, but while developing you should ensure there are no orphaned references
   to the old location somewhere.
 *  Thread Starter [Guido](https://wordpress.org/support/users/guido07111975/)
 * (@guido07111975)
 * [9 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/custom-upload-folder-4/#post-7703866)
 * Hi BC,
 * I have deceided to use an alternative, so I can still use the default wp-content
   folder: htaccess
 *     ```
       <IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
       RewriteEngine On
       RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^.*wp-content/uploads/.*(aa|ee) [NC]
       RewriteCond %{HTTP_COOKIE} !^.*wordpress_logged_in.*$ [NC]
       RewriteRule . - [R=403,L]
       </IfModule>
       ```
   
 * I’m no expert on this, but it seems to work:
    No access to files (uri’s) containing‘
   aa’ or ‘ee’ located in folder ‘wp-content > uploads’ when not logged is.
 * But as always, I might missing something 😉
 * Guido

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

The topic ‘Custom upload folder’ is closed to new replies.

## Tags

 * [upload_dir](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/upload_dir/)

 * In: [Hacks](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/plugins-and-hacks/hacks/)
 * 4 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [Guido](https://wordpress.org/support/users/guido07111975/)
 * Last activity: [9 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/custom-upload-folder-4/#post-7703866)
 * Status: resolved

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