cffile action = "upload"

Copies a file to a directory on the server. 

<cffile 
   action = "upload"
   fileField = "formfield"
   destination = "full_path_name"
   nameConflict = "behavior"
   accept = "mime_type/file_type"
   mode = "permission"
   attributes = "file_attribute_or_list">

cfdirectory

See the History section of the main cffile tag page.

Attribute Req/Opt Default Description

action

Required

 

Type of file manipulation that the tag performs.

fileField

Required

 

Name of form field used to select the file.

Do not use pound signs (#) to specify the field name.

destination

Required

 

Pathname of directory in which to upload the file. If not an absolute path (starting a with a drive letter and a colon, or a forward or backward slash), it is relative to the ColdFusion temporary directory, which is returned by the GetTempDirectory function.

nameConflict

Optional

Error

Action to take if filename is the same as that of a file in the directory.

  • Error: file is not saved. ColdFusion stops processing the page and returns an error.
  • Skip: file is not saved. This option permits custom behavior based on file properties.
  • Overwrite: replaces file.
  • MakeUnique: forms a unique filename for the upload; name is stored in the file object variable serverFile.

accept

Optional

 

Limits the MIME types to accept. Comma-delimited list. For example, to permit JPG and Microsoft Word file uploads:

accept = "image/jpg, application/msword"

The browser uses file extension to determine file type.

mode

Optional

 

Applies only to UNIX and Linux. Permissions. Octal values of chmod command. Assigned to owner, group, and other, respectively. For example:

  • 644: Assigns read/write permission to owner; read permission to group and other
  • 777: Assigns read/write/execute permission to all

attributes

Optional

 

Applies to Windows. A comma-delimited list of attributes to set on the file.

If omitted, the file's attributes are maintained.

Each value must be specified explicitly. For example, if you specify attributes = "readOnly", all other attributes are overwritten.

  • readOnly
  • hidden
  • normal (if you use this option with other attributes, it is overridden by them)

After a file upload is completed, you can get status information using file upload parameters. The status parameters use the cffile prefix; for example, cffile.clientDirectory. Status parameters can be used anywhere other ColdFusion parameters can be used.

Note: The file prefix is deprecated, in favor of the cffile prefix. Do not use the file prefix in new applications.

Tip: If your page is uploading a file that was selected on a form or was otherwise sent to your page via a multipart/form-data HTTP message, you can determine the approximate size of the file by checking the value of the CGI.content_length variable. This variable includes the file length plus the length of any other request content.

The following file upload status parameters are available after an upload.

Parameter Description

attemptedServerFile

Initial name ColdFusion used when attempting to save a file

clientDirectory

Directory location of the file uploaded from the client's system

clientFile

Name of the file uploaded from the client's system

clientFileExt

Extension of the uploaded file on the client system (without a period)

clientFileName

Name of the uploaded file on the client system (without an extension)

contentSubType

MIME content subtype of the saved file

contentType

MIME content type of the saved file

dateLastAccessed

Date and time the uploaded file was last accessed

fileExisted

Whether the file already existed with the same path (Yes or No)

fileSize

Size of the uploaded file

fileWasAppended

Whether ColdFusion appended uploaded file to a file (Yes or No)

fileWasOverwritten

Whether ColdFusion overwrote a file (Yes or No)

fileWasRenamed

Whether uploaded file renamed to avoid a name conflict (Yes or No)

fileWasSaved

Whether ColdFusion saves a file (Yes or No)

oldFileSize

Size of a file that was overwritten in the file upload operation

serverDirectory

Directory of the file saved on the server

serverFile

Filename of the file saved on the server

serverFileExt

Extension of the uploaded file on the server (without a period)

serverFileName

Name of the uploaded file on the server (without an extension)

timeCreated

Time the uploaded file was created

timeLastModified

Date and time of the last modification to the uploaded file

Tip: To refer to parameters, use the cffile prefix: for example, #cffile.fileExisted#.

Note: File status parameters are read-only. They are set to the results of the most recent cffile operation. (If two cffile tags execute, the results of the second overwrite the first.)

The following example creates a unique filename, if there is a name conflict when the file is uploaded on Windows: 

<cffile action = "upload" 
   fileField = "FileContents" 
   destination = "c:\web\uploads\" 
   accept = "text/html" 
   nameConflict = "MakeUnique">

The following examples show the use of the mode attribute. The first example creates the file /tmp/foo with permissions defined as: owner=read/write, group=read, other=read. 

<cffile action = "write"
file = "/tmp/foo" 
mode = 644
output = "some text">

This example appends to a file and sets permissions to read/write (rw) for all.

<cffile action = "append" 
destination = "/home/tomj/testing.txt" 
mode = 666 
output = "Is this a test?">

This example uploads a file and sets permissions to owner/group/other = read/write/execute. 

<cffile action = "upload" 
fileField = "fieldname" 
destination = "/tmp/program.exe" 
mode = 777>

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