Upload a local file as a WordPress attachment, placing it in the Media library. Supports images, PDFs, and other file types.

rs_upload_from_path.php

<?php

/**
* This function uploads from a local file path.
* To upload from a URL instead
* @see: https://gist.github.com/RadGH/966f8c756c5e142a5f489e86e751eacb
*
* Example usage: Upload photo from file, display the attachment as as html <img>
*   $attachment_id = rs_upload_from_path( "/images/photo.png" );
*   echo wp_get_attachment_image( $attachment_id, 'large' );
*
*/

/**
 * Takes a local file path and uploads it to the WordPress media gallery.
 *
 * @version 1.2
 *
 * @param string      $path   File path to be uploaded
 * @param null|string $title  If set, used as the post_title
 *
 * @return int|false
 */
function rs_upload_from_path( $path, $title = null ) {
	if ( !file_exists($path) ) return false;
	
	// Include file and attachment utilities that are used below
	require_once( ABSPATH . 'wp-admin/includes/file.php' );
	require_once( ABSPATH . 'wp-admin/includes/image.php' );
	
	// mynotes.txt -> mynotes, txt
	$filename = basename($path);
	$extension = strtolower(pathinfo($path, PATHINFO_EXTENSION));
	
	// Pretend to upload a file using the traditional $_FILES global.
	// We use a temporary file because uploading this way deletes the existing file in order to put it in the uploads folder.
	// We do not want the original to be deleted, so the temporary file we use gets deleted instead
	$tmp = tmpfile();
	$tmp_path = stream_get_meta_data($tmp)['uri'];
	$tmp_filename = basename($tmp_path);
	fwrite($tmp, file_get_contents( $path ));
	fseek($tmp, 0); // If we don't do this, WordPress thinks the file is empty
	
	// Get mime type from file
	$mime = mime_content_type( $tmp_path );
	$mime = is_string($mime) ? sanitize_mime_type( $mime ) : false;
	
	// Mime type must be present or else it would fail the "upload"
	if ( !$mime ) {
		fclose($tmp);
		@unlink($tmp_path);
		return false;
	}
	
	// Array structure designed to mimic $_FILES, like if you submitted a form with an <input type="file">
	$_FILES[$tmp_filename] = array(
		'name'      => $filename,
		'type'      => $mime,
		'tmp_name'  => $tmp_path,
		'error'     => UPLOAD_ERR_OK,
		'size'      => filesize($path),
	);
	
	// Do the upload, this moves the file to the uploads folder
	$upload = wp_handle_upload( $_FILES[$tmp_filename], array( 'test_form' => false, 'action' => 'local' ) );
	
	// Clean up after upload
	fclose($tmp);
	@unlink($tmp_path);
	unset($_FILES[basename($tmp_path)]);
	
	// Abort if error occurred
	if ( !empty($upload['error']) ) return false;
	
	// Generate a title if needed
	if ( empty($title) ) $title = pathinfo($path, PATHINFO_FILENAME);
	
	// Create the "attachment" post, as seen on the media page
	$args = array(
		'post_title' => $title,
		'post_content' => '',
		'post_status' => 'publish',
		'post_mime_type' => $upload['type'],
	);
	
	$attachment_id = wp_insert_attachment( $args, $upload['file'] );
	
	// Abort if we could not insert the attachment
	// Also when aborted, delete the unattached file since it would not show up in the media gallery
	if ( is_wp_error( $attachment_id ) ) {
		@unlink($upload['file']);
		return false;
	}
	
	// Upload was successful, generate and save the image metadata
	$data = wp_generate_attachment_metadata( $attachment_id, $upload['file'] );
	wp_update_attachment_metadata( $attachment_id, $data );
	
	// All successful, return the attachment ID
	return $attachment_id;
}

Adding wp_update_attachment_metadata( $result['attachment_id'], wp_generate_attachment_metadata( $result['attachment_id'], $result['file'] ) ); after line 60 will give WordPress all the little bits of image data it needs.

Thanks for the tip, added that in. I put it behind the if statement so it doesn't run if the upload fails for some reason.

Thank for the share

Works perfectly to import PDFs into Media Library in WP 5.8.2 - thanks for sharing.

I've updated this function for consistency. Also improved mime type detection.

For uploading a URL instead, consider my other function:

rs_upload_from_url( $url )
https://gist.github.com/RadGH/966f8c756c5e142a5f489e86e751eacb