Title: Scan Depth
Last modified: August 30, 2016

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# Scan Depth

 *  Resolved [diedenker](https://wordpress.org/support/users/diedenker/)
 * (@diedenker)
 * [10 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/scan-depth/)
 * Is there some description of the “scan depth” feature? What are the consequences
   of changing scan depth (technically and regarding security), what levels can 
   you set, etc.? Thank you very much for any information!
 * [https://wordpress.org/plugins/gotmls/](https://wordpress.org/plugins/gotmls/)

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

 *  Plugin Author [Eli](https://wordpress.org/support/users/scheeeli/)
 * (@scheeeli)
 * [10 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/scan-depth/#post-6665548)
 * The setting controls how far a Complete Scan will drill down into the directory
   tree. The default setting is -1 which means infinite depth or all sub-directories(
   recursive). The only reason to change this setting would be if you had a recursive
   symlink in your path or a directory problem that prevented the Complete Scan 
   from finishing. Then you could experiment using different low integers until 
   you found the level that worked for your given situation.
 * Example:
    If you scanned the wp-content directory with a Scan Depth setting of
   1 it would not scan any of the sub-directories. If you used a Scan Depth setting
   of 2 it would scan: …/wp-content …/wp-content/plugins …/wp-content/themes …/wp-
   content/upgrade …/wp-content/uploads and any other directories directly inside
   wp-content but none of the sub-directories inside those first level sub-directories.
 * Note: By using a positive integer as your Scan Depth setting you will likely 
   be skipping branches of your directory tree that might contain the malicious 
   code you are looking for, so it’s best to use the default setting whenever possible.
 * Please let me know if you have any more question.
 * Aloha, Eli
 *  Thread Starter [diedenker](https://wordpress.org/support/users/diedenker/)
 * (@diedenker)
 * [10 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/scan-depth/#post-6665621)
 * Thank you very much for your good explanation! You should put this into a manual,
   as your plugin is very popular and there seems to be no manual so far 😉 Anyway,
   thanks for your good work!
 * [http://www.diedenker.org](http://www.diedenker.org)

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

The topic ‘Scan Depth’ is closed to new replies.

 * ![](https://ps.w.org/gotmls/assets/icon-256x256.png?rev=1001824)
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 * 2 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [diedenker](https://wordpress.org/support/users/diedenker/)
 * Last activity: [10 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/scan-depth/#post-6665621)
 * Status: resolved