opendir() and files below parent

Hi.

I am trying to use some functions to opendir and readdir with the file
/root/desktop/www/list.php

when I try to read the contents of
/root/mysql_backups/

I only get the names of the file, and the file size and date say:

Warning: filetype(): Lstat failed for (null) (errno=2 - No such file or
directory) in /var/www/localhost/htdocs/list.php on line 27