I configured autofs in my fedora so that when I plug any usb stick in /dev/sda1 it automatically mounts in /mnt/auto/usb0 There is two lines where the problem arise. $util->run_command("ls -1 /mnt/auto/usb0 | wc -l"); // it shows 13 when I plug my usb stick. $list = scandir("/mnt/auto/usb0 "); // here $list is null This script is in a php file which is running by apache. the $util object is not actually running the command but it is inserting the command in a queue. There is daemon who has root access processing the queue. It means the command in $util->run_command() is executing with root privilege. this command mounts and get the total amount of file/folder very nicely But when I run the second line I see there is no file. How can I fill the list with those file list. It may look that the problem is regarding permission. But I don't think so. Becasue I use the same command I mean the same 2 lines with /mnt/cdrom, and it works very nicely It works, $util->run_command("ls -1 /mnt/cdrom | wc -l"); // it shows 200 in my CD rom drive $list = scandir("/mnt/cdrom"); // here I get full list of files/folders Why its happening? I want the $list to be filled. Also I need directory and file information so that I can make another list like array(array('Type'=>'DIR','Name'=>'music'),array('Type'=>'DIR','Name'=>'music1'),array('Type'=>'FIL','Name'=>' elvis.mp3'),array('Type'=>'FIL','Name'=>'elvis2.mp3'),...); -- shout at http://me.cmyweb.net/ comment on http://talk.cmyweb.net/ All time available for Hire/Contract/Full Time :)