require
I needed a way of include()ing a php page from a MySQL database. It took some work, but
eventually I came up with this:
<?php
function include_text($text){
while(substr_count($text, '<?php') > 0){ //loop while there's code in $text
list($html, $text) = explode('<?php', $text, 2); //split at first open php tag
echo $html; //echo text before tag
list($code, $text) = explode('?>', $text, 2); //split at closing tag
eval($code); //exec code (between tags)
}
echo $text; //echo whatever is left
}
?>
It doesn't work exactly the same as include(), as newlines after the '?>' tag are echoed, rather
than being discarded, but that's an exercise left to the reader to fix if they so desire, and
also globals defined within the included text are not available outside the function.
Not sure whether it would work with something like:
<?php if($x){ ?>
<p>Some HTML Output</p>
...
...
<?php }
else{ ?>
<p>Other HTML Output</p>
...
...
<?php } ?>
I rarely use that, but it's easy to re-write code to avoid it using HereDoc syntax, so the example above becomes:
<?php if($x){ echo <<<EOT
<p>Some HTML Output</p>
...
...
EOT;
}
else{ echo <<<EOT
<p>Other HTML Output</p>
...
...
EOT;
} ?>
Which would work with include_text()
It also won't work as-is with either asp-style or short tags.
include()
The include() statement includes and evaluates the specified file.
The documentation below also applies to require(). The two constructs are identical in every way except how they handle failure. They both produce a Warning, but require() results in a Fatal Error. In other words, use require() if you want a missing file to halt processing of the page. include() does not behave this way, the script will continue regardless. Be sure to have an appropriate include_path setting as well. Be warned that parse error in included file doesn't cause processing halting in PHP versions prior to PHP 4.3.5. Since this version, it does.
Files for including are first looked for in each include_path entry relative to the current working directory, and then in the directory of current script. E.g. if your include_path is libraries, current working directory is /www/, you included include/a.php and there is include "b.php" in that file, b.php is first looked in /www/libraries/ and then in /www/include/. If filename begins with ./ or ../, it is looked only in the current working directory.
When a file is included, the code it contains inherits the variable scope of the line on which the include occurs. Any variables available at that line in the calling file will be available within the called file, from that point forward. However, all functions and classes defined in the included file have the global scope.
Example #1 Basic include() example
vars.php
<?php
$color = 'green';
$fruit = 'apple';
?>
test.php
<?php
echo "A $color $fruit"; // A
include 'vars.php';
echo "A $color $fruit"; // A green apple
?>
If the include occurs inside a function within the calling file, then all of the code contained in the called file will behave as though it had been defined inside that function. So, it will follow the variable scope of that function. An exception to this rule are magic constants which are evaluated by the parser before the include occurs.
Example #2 Including within functions
<?php
function foo()
{
global $color;
include 'vars.php';
echo "A $color $fruit";
}
/* vars.php is in the scope of foo() so *
* $fruit is NOT available outside of this *
* scope. $color is because we declared it *
* as global. */
foo(); // A green apple
echo "A $color $fruit"; // A green
?>
When a file is included, parsing drops out of PHP mode and into HTML mode at the beginning of the target file, and resumes again at the end. For this reason, any code inside the target file which should be executed as PHP code must be enclosed within valid PHP start and end tags.
If "URL fopen wrappers" are enabled in PHP (which they are in the default configuration), you can specify the file to be included using a URL (via HTTP or other supported wrapper - see List of Supported Protocols/Wrappers for a list of protocols) instead of a local pathname. If the target server interprets the target file as PHP code, variables may be passed to the included file using a URL request string as used with HTTP GET. This is not strictly speaking the same thing as including the file and having it inherit the parent file's variable scope; the script is actually being run on the remote server and the result is then being included into the local script.
Warning
Windows versions of PHP prior to PHP 4.3.0 do not support access of remote files via this function, even if allow_url_fopen is enabled.
Example #3 include() through HTTP
<?php
/* This example assumes that www.example.com is configured to parse .php
* files and not .txt files. Also, 'Works' here means that the variables
* $foo and $bar are available within the included file. */
// Won't work; file.txt wasn't handled by www.example.com as PHP
include 'http://www.example.com/file.txt?foo=1&bar=2';
// Won't work; looks for a file named 'file.php?foo=1&bar=2' on the
// local filesystem.
include 'file.php?foo=1&bar=2';
// Works.
include 'http://www.example.com/file.php?foo=1&bar=2';
$foo = 1;
$bar = 2;
include 'file.txt'; // Works.
include 'file.php'; // Works.
?>
Warning
Security warning
Remote file may be processed at the remote server (depending on the file extension and the fact if the remote server runs PHP or not) but it still has to produce a valid PHP script because it will be processed at the local server. If the file from the remote server should be processed there and outputted only, readfile() is much better function to use. Otherwise, special care should be taken to secure the remote script to produce a valid and desired code.
See also Remote files, fopen() and file() for related information.
Handling Returns: It is possible to execute a return() statement inside an included file in order to terminate processing in that file and return to the script which called it. Also, it's possible to return values from included files. You can take the value of the include call as you would a normal function. This is not, however, possible when including remote files unless the output of the remote file has valid PHP start and end tags (as with any local file). You can declare the needed variables within those tags and they will be introduced at whichever point the file was included.
Because include() is a special language construct, parentheses are not needed around its argument. Take care when comparing return value.
Example #4 Comparing return value of include
<?php
// won't work, evaluated as include(('vars.php') == 'OK'), i.e. include('')
if (include('vars.php') == 'OK') {
echo 'OK';
}
// works
if ((include 'vars.php') == 'OK') {
echo 'OK';
}
?>
Example #5 include() and the return() statement
return.php
<?php
$var = 'PHP';
return $var;
?>
noreturn.php
<?php
$var = 'PHP';
?>
testreturns.php
<?php
$foo = include 'return.php';
echo $foo; // prints 'PHP'
$bar = include 'noreturn.php';
echo $bar; // prints 1
?>
$bar is the value 1 because the include was successful. Notice the difference between the above examples. The first uses return() within the included file while the other does not. If the file can't be included, FALSE is returned and E_WARNING is issued.
If there are functions defined in the included file, they can be used in the main file independent if they are before return() or after. If the file is included twice, PHP 5 issues fatal error because functions were already declared, while PHP 4 doesn't complain about functions defined after return(). It is recommended to use include_once() instead of checking if the file was already included and conditionally return inside the included file.
Another way to "include" a PHP file into a variable is to capture the output by using the Output Control Functions with include(). For example:
Example #6 Using output buffering to include a PHP file into a string
<?php
$string = get_include_contents('somefile.php');
function get_include_contents($filename) {
if (is_file($filename)) {
ob_start();
include $filename;
$contents = ob_get_contents();
ob_end_clean();
return $contents;
}
return false;
}
?>
In order to automatically include files within scripts, see also the auto_prepend_file and auto_append_file configuration options in php.ini.
Note: Because this is a language construct and not a function, it cannot be called using variable functions
See also require(), require_once(), include_once(), get_included_files(), readfile(), virtual(), and include_path.
add a note
User Contributed Notesinclude
rich dot lovely at klikzltd dot co dot uk
18-Jul-2008 04:20
18-Jul-2008 04:20
phpincludenote at mooreds dot com
26-Jun-2008 02:29
26-Jun-2008 02:29
Here's how to send headers with a URL include, if you'd like:
http://www.mooreds.com/wordpress/archives/000477
huuanito
26-Jun-2008 01:34
26-Jun-2008 01:34
When using includes with allow_url_include on in your ini beware that, when accessing sessions from included files, if from a script you include one file using an absolute file reference and then include a second file from on your local server using a url file reference that
they have different variable scope
and the same session will not be seen from both included files. The original session won't be seen from the url included file.
So:
main script:
<?php
session_start();
$_SESSION['count'] = 234;
echo "sid from script1".session_id();
include "/var/www/htdocs/file1";
include "http://yoursite/file2";
?>
file1
<?php
echo " **sid from file1: ".session_id();
echo " count from file1= ".$_SESSION['count'];
?>
echoes both a session id and the count
but file2
<?php
echo " **sid from file2: ".session_id();
echo " count from file2= ".$_SESSION['count'];
?>
echoes just the text, no session id and no count.
g4wx3
25-Jun-2008 09:52
25-Jun-2008 09:52
Don't forget about the DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR constant.
No tricks needed to identify the OS;
just use it:
include($folder.DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR.$file;)
*hint make a function
developer at aeropress dot com
18-Jun-2008 08:13
18-Jun-2008 08:13
The code in EXAMPLE #5 above does NOT work if you attempt to include by URL. I have been unable to discover any scheme at all that will pass a variable in this manner.
marabbeh
16-Jun-2008 09:46
16-Jun-2008 09:46
Thanks to alex carstea and tim furry for absolute path function. Here is (just) a bit faster version :
<?php
// The function returns the absolute path to the file to be included.
// This path can be used as argument to include() and resolves the problem of nested inclusions.
function getFilePath($relative_path) {
// $abs_path is the current absolute path (replace "\\" to "/" for windows platforms)
$abs_path=str_replace("\\", "/", dirname($_SERVER['SCRIPT_FILENAME']));
$relative_array=explode("/",$relative_path);
$abs_array=explode("/",$abs_path);
// for each "../" at the beginning of $relative_path
// removes this 1st item from $relative_path and the last item from $abs_path
while ($relative_array and ($relative_array[0]=="..")) {
array_shift($relative_array);
array_pop($abs_array);
}
// and implodes both arrays
return implode("/", $abs_array) . "/" . implode("/", $relative_array);
}
?>
ricardo dot ferro at gmail dot com
15-May-2008 02:14
15-May-2008 02:14
Two functions to help:
<?php
function add_include_path ($path)
{
foreach (func_get_args() AS $path)
{
if (!file_exists($path) OR (file_exists($path) && filetype($path) !== 'dir'))
{
trigger_error("Include path '{$path}' not exists", E_USER_WARNING);
continue;
}
$paths = explode(PATH_SEPARATOR, get_include_path());
if (array_search($path, $paths) === false)
array_push($paths, $path);
set_include_path(implode(PATH_SEPARATOR, $paths));
}
}
function remove_include_path ($path)
{
foreach (func_get_args() AS $path)
{
$paths = explode(PATH_SEPARATOR, get_include_path());
if (($k = array_search($path, $paths)) !== false)
unset($paths[$k]);
else
continue;
if (!count($paths))
{
trigger_error("Include path '{$path}' can not be removed because it is the only", E_USER_NOTICE);
continue;
}
set_include_path(implode(PATH_SEPARATOR, $paths));
}
}
?>
phpnet at freshsite dot de
14-May-2008 07:01
14-May-2008 07:01
A note about the "return - thing":
test2.php
<?php
$r = true;
return $r;
?>
test1.php: (Does NOT work)
<?php
function functionA(){
return functionB();
}
function functionB(){
require_once 'test2.php';
}
var_dump(functionA());
?>
When you call test1.php, result will be NULL.
You have to "return" the include like this:
test1.php CORRECT:
<?php
function functionA(){
return functionB();
}
function functionB(){
return require_once 'test2.php';
}
var_dump(functionA());
?>
fernandoleal at drakecall dot com
13-May-2008 01:55
13-May-2008 01:55
Like the manual says the includes gets all function and variable on global scope that
Includes errors so watch out if you disable display errors with @ because it also hides the included file errors, its kind of dumb :$ hehe but sometime you miss it when you want to prevent displaying errors.
This also applies to include_once, require and require_once.
Example
“index.php”
<?php
#Shows the error ‘Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_VARIABLE in’
include(test.php);
#Doesn’t show the error
@include(test.php);
?>
“test.php”
<?php
$parse_error
?>
Rick Garcia
09-May-2008 12:38
09-May-2008 12:38
As a rule of thumb, never include files using relative paths. To do this efficiently, you can define constants as follows:
----
<?php // prepend.php - autoprepended at the top of your tree
define('MAINDIR',dirname(__FILE__) . '/');
define('DL_DIR',MAINDIR . 'downloads/');
define('LIB_DIR',MAINDIR . 'lib/');
?>
----
and so on. This way, the files in your framework will only have to issue statements such as this:
<?php
require_once(LIB_DIR . 'excel_functions.php');
?>
This also frees you from having to check the include path each time you do an include.
If you're running scripts from below your main web directory, put a prepend.php file in each subdirectory:
--
<?php
include(dirname(dirname(__FILE__)) . '/prepend.php');
?>
--
This way, the prepend.php at the top always gets executed and you'll have no path handling headaches. Just remember to set the auto_prepend_file directive on your .htaccess files for each subdirectory where you have web-accessible scripts.
etadpole23_2 at yahoo dot com
01-May-2008 07:18
01-May-2008 07:18
It aggravated me trying to get an absolute URL include from another one of my sites; then it occurred to me to check the phpinfo().
Under the "PHP Core" section; look for these values:
allow_url_fopen
allow_url_include
Turns out, both of mine are turned off. If you are stuck, try this snippet that {oasis1 (at) geocities (d@t) com} wrote earlier:
<?php
$times = substr_count($_SERVER['PHP_SELF'],"/");
$rootaccess = "";
$i = 1;
while ($i < $times) {
$rootaccess .= "../";
$i++;
}
include ($rootaccess."path_to_script");
?>
Thanks a ton Oasis!
Alexander
10-Mar-2008 12:09
10-Mar-2008 12:09
include() statement generates a compilation-time error when used inside a class declaration (but not within a function). For example:
<?php
class MyClass
{
include "file1.php";
include "file2.php";
function func1()
{
.......
}
?>
uramihsayibok, gmail, com
25-Feb-2008 09:28
25-Feb-2008 09:28
I have a need to include a lot of files, all of which are contained in one directory. Support for things like <?php include_once 'dir/*.php'; ?> would be nice, but it doesn't exist.
Therefore I wrote this quick function (located in a file automatically included by auto_prepend_file):
<?php
function include_all_once ($pattern) {
foreach (glob($pattern) as $file) { // remember the { and } are necessary!
include $file;
}
}
// used like
include_all_once('dir/*.php');
?>
A fairly obvious solution. It doesn't deal with relative file paths though; you still have to do that yourself.
pepesantillan at gmail dot com
25-Dec-2007 05:13
25-Dec-2007 05:13
In response to the last post...
instead of using your function to include a file, you can directly include files. But I guess my_include does something else besides including files and thats why you use it.
Im learning php (just got to this part of the manual, that much of a begginer I am) but a solution I can think of (and I am posting it because your post is from about a day ago) is using an array as a parameter in the function my_include. That array would contain all your local (global) variables and would pass them to your function and made them local for that function... Heres and example (hoping its not so hard to understant)
<?php
//sample function, note the referencing of the array using &
function my_include($file_to_include,&$my_array_of_globals) {
//you can find explanation on the function extract
//from the function list on this page, always check
//that list, is really usefull!. Extract would go at the very
//beggining of the function my_include.
extract($my_array_of_globals);
//now you have a kind of simulation of using global with
//any single variable of your script
include($file_to_include);
//in this part we recreate the array containing our variables
//this would go at the very end of the function
$my_array_of_globals = compact(array_keys($my_array_of_globals));
}
//some variables
$var1 = 1;
$var2 = 3;
echo "First print before calling the function:<BR>\$var1 is $var1, \$var2 is $var2<BR>";
//in this part we create an array containing our variables
//this is the array we will pass to the function
foreach ($GLOBALS as $key => $value){
if (!is_array($value)) {
//is not array? what?... yup, just to avoid post, get, cookie, etc...
//and what if I have a variable that its an array?
//as sad as it is for me, my method wont allow you
//to get arrays back from the function
$some_globals["$key"] = $value;
}
}
//and we call our function using this array
$include_string = $_SERVER["DOCUMENT_ROOT"]."/include_me.php";
//I like using include without the help of php.ini include_path
my_include($include_string,$some_globals);
//after that we extract our variables from $some_globals
extract($some_globals);
echo "Second print, after calling the function:<BR>\$var1 is $var1, \$var2 is $var2<BR>";
?>
This is include_me.php
<?php
// sample included file, it could try to access some variables
//from the file including him and even try to change them
$var1++; //from var1 = 1 to var1 = 2
$var2 *= 2; //from var2 = 3 to var2 =6
?>
and the output:
First print before calling the function:
$var1 is 1, $var2 is 3
Second print, after calling the function:
$var1 is 2, $var2 is 6
It is not an elegant nor efficient solution, but I wanna try to help you with the little knowledge I have. Hope it is of any help! Hope someone else posts a solution!
Merry Christmass to everyone
slush puppie
25-Oct-2007 02:40
25-Oct-2007 02:40
two little methods i wrote up that work on our IIS6 server. the first makes an alternate include call you can use to include things by calling them via their root location. the second method alters the include path so all include() calls are via the root location.
these are a compilation of a few methods i found here, but i think i made them a bit more modular. anyhow...
<?php
## MAKES A NEW FUNCTION CALLED rinclude() THAT INCLUDES
## A FILE RELATIVE TO THE ROOT DIRECTORY
## LEAVE include() UNTOUCHED SO IT CAN STILL BE USED AS NORMAL
function rinclude($path){
$levels = substr_count($_SERVER['PHP_SELF'],'/');
$root = '';
for($i = 1; $i < $levels; $i++){$root .= '../';}
include($root . $path);
}
rinclude('file.inc.php'); // in root
rinclude('dir/file.inc.php'); // in a subfolder
?>
<hr />
<?php
## SET INCLUDE TO ROOT DIRECTORY SO ALL include()
## CALLS WILL BE RELATIVE TO ROOT
function setinclude(){
$levels = substr_count($_SERVER['PHP_SELF'],'/');
$root = '';
for($i = 1; $i < $levels; $i++){$root .= '../';}
set_include_path($root);
}
setinclude();
include('file.inc.php'); // in root
include('dir/file.inc.phpp'); // in a subfolder
?>
sbwoodside at yahoo dot com
08-Oct-2007 05:19
08-Oct-2007 05:19
Here's a really simple solution to a common problem. Let's say you want to include files the way that apache does, relative to the document root (the root dir of your app). Independent of what server you are on, so that you don't have to specify an absolute path on your filesystem. At the top of your page put:
<?php set_include_path( get_include_path() . PATH_SEPARATOR . $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] ); ?>
Now anywhere you do an include you can do something like:
<?php include ( "Templates/header.inc") ?>
So, if your server files are in /var/www/mysite, this will include /var/www/mysite/Templates/header.inc when it's on your server. And if on your dev machine it's in /user/myname/mysite, it will include /user/myname/mysite/Templates/header.inc when it's on your dev machine.
gomodo at free dot fr
02-Sep-2007 06:29
02-Sep-2007 06:29
Reponse to rayro at gmx dot de (21-Aug-2007 11:48 )
Hi rayro,
your code :
<?php
include(realpath('../../../test.php'));
?>
..Don't works when a function is called by another remote function (with a another remote include) -> realpath don't use __FILE__ reference :(
This works always and everywhere ( thanks to Jonny Rylands http://fr2.php.net/manual/fr/function.realpath.php#56773 ) :
<?
include (realpath(dirname(__FILE__).'/relative/path/to/include.inc.php'));
?>
friendly.
twolfley at gmail dot com
31-Aug-2007 01:37
31-Aug-2007 01:37
With a large system you might have lots of functions. I have noticed that this can produce large memory overhead, some of which can be alleviated by using includes in the following manner:
e.g.
<?php
function foo() {
//some long block of code here producing $bar
return $bar;
}
?>
can be rewritten as:
<?php
function foo() {
return include "foo.php";
}
?>
where foo.php contains the following:
<?php
//long block of code producing $bar
return $bar;
?>
The result is the function's body does not get loaded into memory until the function is actually called.
eeckart at gmail dot com
17-Aug-2007 12:17
17-Aug-2007 12:17
In reference to the fopen() and $use_include_path workaround for checking whether a include file exists as posted by [arnold at bean-it dot nl]...
I did some benchmarks with 100 dirs (each with 1 file) in the include_path on Apache/2.0.55 (Win32) PHP/5.2.1.
Here are the results:
(note: in the success scenarios, I am include'ing the file in the LAST directory on the include stack. This is to maximize the seek time; fail scenarios simply use a non-existent file; all times are in seconds )
benchmarks --> plain vanilla INCLUDE
(success)
0.05515718460083
0.054859161376953
0.053768157958984
(fail)
0.22402501106262
0.17378783226013
0.14510798454285
benchmarks --> fopen() and $use_include_path workaround
(success)
0.060588836669922
0.069549798965454
0.056423902511597
(fail)
0.05295991897583
0.039775133132935
0.054499864578247
>>> CONCLUSION
In cases involving MANY include paths, include() is -marginally- faster than the workaround (unsurprising - we incur the extra overhead of BOTH the fopen() call AND the $use_include_path seek). I say marginal in comparison to the "fail" scenarios, detailed next..
The most surprising thing is the inefficiency of include() when you are trying for a non-existent file. As compared to the workaround, the native include() method is roughly 3 times slower.
Based on additional tests (50 paths only), I note that any decrease in seek time for either case is generally linear to the number of paths.
---
THEREFORE, depending on the amount of paths you have, you might want to resort to different methods of optimizing the includes in your scripts, especially if you need to constantly test for the existence of include'd files (our organization uses a templating engine that relies on a virtual flat directory structure using the set_include_path() function).
---
From a technical perspective, I have no idea why this is the case and I find the prospect of trawling the PHP source to be rather daunting. However, as an educated guess: I figure that the include() code assumes the file exists, and so wastes processor cycles making a system read call, which inevitably fails.
For those interested in the benchmark script, you can email me at the email address provided above. No support, of course. :P
tim furry
09-Aug-2007 11:09
09-Aug-2007 11:09
A small tweak to alex's getFilePath function allows it to work for Windows-based PHP as well:
<?php
$absPath = str_replace("\\", "/", dirname($_SERVER['SCRIPT_FILENAME']));
?>
Windows recognizes a forward slash as a directory separator character.
Using $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] and similar solutions didn't seem to work for web paths with internal symbolic links. Alex's function gets around that and works great.
alex carstea
26-Jul-2007 11:07
26-Jul-2007 11:07
Since include() caused me many problems when i was trying to test my code, I wrote a small function. It receives as parameter the path to the file to include relative to the current file. The format similar to :
"../../path/FileName.php"
The function returns the absolute path to the file to be included. This path can be used as argument to include() and resolves the problem of nested inclusions.
<?php
function getFilePath($relativePath){
$absPath=dirname($_SERVER['SCRIPT_FILENAME']);
$relativeArray=explode("/",$relativePath);
$absArray=explode("/",$absPath);
$upTokens=0;
//count the number of ".." tokens that precede the path
while(( $upTokens<count($relativeArray)) and ($relativeArray[$upTokens]=="..")) {
$upTokens++;
}
// create the absolute path
$filePath=$absArray[0];
for ($i=1; $i< (count($absArray)-$upTokens);$i++) {
$filePath.="/".$absArray[$i];
}
for ($i=$upTokens; $i< count($relativeArray);$i++){
$filePath.="/".$relativeArray[$i];
}
return $filePath;
}
?>
Hope you will find it usefull....
Alex
Cory Gagliardi
26-Jul-2007 02:22
26-Jul-2007 02:22
Easy way to set $_GET values for local includes.
This is an easy way to make up fake URLs for SEO purposes that are really just running other PHP pages with special $_GET values.
This will NOT work:
<?PHP
include('communities.php?show=gated&where=naples');
?>
However, this will:
<?PHP
$_GET = array();
$_GET['show'] = 'gated';
$_GET['where'] = 'naples';
include('communities.php');
?>
Putting this on your page and nothing else will give the same result as going to
'communities.php?show=gated&where=naples'
but the URL can be whatever you want it to be.
php_notes (at) megaphone . ch
20-Jul-2007 07:28
20-Jul-2007 07:28
If you use php >5.2, don't forget to set up the allow_url_include parameter in php.ini file .. If not you can search a long long long long time after this like-a-bug problem ;)
http://www.php.net/manual/en/ini.php
adam at adamleayr dot id dot au
03-Jul-2007 08:22
03-Jul-2007 08:22
In response to oasis1 below, I use mod_rewrite to pipe all my requests through the index.php file, so I'm able to use the below code to find the root directory:
$sRoot = $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] . dirname($_SERVER['SCRIPT_NAME']);
You may be able to modify it to suit yourself.
oasis1 at geocities dot com
29-Jun-2007 11:11
29-Jun-2007 11:11
What a pain! I have struggled with including files from various subdirectories. My server doesn't support an easy way to get to the root HTML directory so this is what I came up with:
<?php
$times = substr_count($_SERVER['PHP_SELF'],"/");
$rootaccess = "";
$i = 1;
while ($i < $times) {
$rootaccess .= "../";
$i++;
}
include ($rootaccess."foo/bar.php");
?>
This will give you what it takes to get to the root directory, regardless of how many subdirectories you have traveled through.
post-nospam at brucemiller dot co dot uk
04-Jun-2007 05:07
04-Jun-2007 05:07
A very EASY way to get 'include' to find its way to another directory, other than setting the 'include path', and useful for fetching one or two files:
include ($_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT']."/foo/bar.php");
This creates an include that is relative to the root rather than the current directory.
The dot is for concatenation, not current directory, as with 'include path' syntax.
See Appendix M of Manual > Reserved words > Predefined Variables, for more info on $SERVER.
user at example.com
21-May-2007 11:38
21-May-2007 11:38
Regarding the caching of includes.
I submitted a bug for this, apparently it's not a bug it's supposed to work that way for some reason.
The bugs team declined to elaborate as to why but it would seem includes aren't meant to use dynamic code, which makes this function worthless and by extension makes php needlessly time consuming because you can't reuse files properly.
treyh at wilnet1 dot com
17-May-2007 10:26
17-May-2007 10:26
I needed to use an include with an echo statement, with http authenication so I thought I'd share. It's basic but I didn't find it documented anywhere:
include 'http://treyh:pass@192.168.0.60/update2_count3.php?data=' . $row[id];
14-May-2007 11:40
Even when you set cache control and expiry headers:
header("Expires: 0");
header("Last-Modified: " . gmdate("D, d M Y H:i:s") . " GMT");
header("cache-control: no-store, no-cache, must-revalidate");
header("Pragma: no-cache");
It doesn't seem to reparse the include on the second hit to the page without a forced refresh.
e.g. a page where you direct to a login page which changes a $_SESSION var then returns to the originating page.
The originating page doesn't execute the code so it looks like still not logged in.
cmedina at bluecorestudio dot com
01-May-2007 01:03
01-May-2007 01:03
I wanted that included files behave like in C/C++ and this was killing me. So I created this function that really helped me (Note: You should add these lines to EVERY included file).
Code Lines:
<?
$FILE_PATH = preg_replace_callback(
'/(.*)(\\\?.*?)\s*;\1(\\\?.*?)\s*$/',
create_function(
'$matches',
'$path = str_replace("\\\", "/",(isset($matches[2])?
preg_replace(
\'/(?:^\/|^\\\\\)?[^\/\\\\\]+(?:\/|\\\\\)?/\',
"../",$matches[2]):"./").
(isset($matches[3])?$matches[3]:""));
return !empty($path)? "$path/" : "./";'
)
,realpath("./").";".dirname(__FILE__)
);
?>
Usage Example:
Files hierarchy for example
/www/file.php
/include/secondfile.php
/include/test/anotherfile
<? //file.php
//i will not include the code lines in example to avoid repetition but you have to
// --- FILE_PATH code lines here ---
// include the file relative to the caller position remember to use a relative path from each file to desired file
include ($FILE_PATH . "../../include/secondfile.php");
?>
<? //secondfile.php
// --- FILE_PATH code lines here ---
//note that path used is in reference to secondfile.php's path and not the original caller's(file.php) path
include ($FILE_PATH . "test/anotherfile"); //or include ($FILE_PATH . "./test/anotherfile");
?>
<? //anotherfile
/* --- some mixed content here --- */
?>
Now you can do recursive includes to files inside already
included files using each file's path as reference, like in
c/c++!!!
I'd tested this just in WINXP (PHP Version 4.4.1), so, I
dont know how it behaves in other OS/PHP-Versions. Any
additional suggestions or bugs, please let me know.
gabriel at bumpt dot net
09-Mar-2007 11:36
09-Mar-2007 11:36
In response to baofu:
The problem with calling:
set_include_path( ... )
before including any file, is that if one of the included files, in turn, does a set_include_path to include yet another bunch of files, then the following include statement in your topmost file, is done in an include path context that has changed.
Using: include dirname(__FILE__).'/../foo/bar' remains the best solution.
Khaos
24-Feb-2007 03:43
24-Feb-2007 03:43
This might help a bit for security (no guarantees).
Instead of
include $page;
put
include str_replace('../', '', './' . $page);
-hh-
23-Feb-2007 07:47
23-Feb-2007 07:47
coldflame,
<?=$foo?> equals <? print $foo ?>
If 1 is not needed at the end, just use <? include($filename) ?> without the equal sign.
anon
13-Feb-2007 09:49
13-Feb-2007 09:49
Be careful using the <?= / ?> start and end tags with include / require.
A lovely feature/bug/misunderstanding meant that the result of
<?=include(filename)?>
was to get the contents of the file, suffixed with a '1'. I can only assume that the one is the return code of the include.
hopefully my pain can help somebody else :D
cheers,
coldflame
mbread at m-bread dot com
11-Feb-2007 01:23
11-Feb-2007 01:23
If you have a problem with "Permission denied" errors (or other permissions problems) when including files, check:
1) That the file you are trying to include has the appropriate "r" (read) permission set, and
2) That all the directories that are ancestors of the included file, but not of the script including the file, have the appropriate "x" (execute/search) permission set.
Nathan Ostgard
20-Jan-2007 06:32
20-Jan-2007 06:32
You can also use debug_backtrace to write a function that do the chdir automatically:
<?php
function include_relative($file)
{
$bt = debug_backtrace();
$old = getcwd();
chdir(dirname($bt[0]['file']));
include($file);
chdir($old);
}
?>
anonymous
19-Jan-2007 05:49
19-Jan-2007 05:49
When I'm dealing with a package that uses relative includes of its own, rather than modify all of their includes, I found it was easier to change PHP's working directory before and after the include, like so:
<?
$wd_was = getcwd();
chdir("/path/to/included/app");
include("mainfile.php");
chdir($wd_was);
?>
This way neither my includes nor theirs are affected; they all work as expected.
dionyziz at deviantart dot com
19-Jan-2007 12:06
19-Jan-2007 12:06
In reply to the last anonymous note, this is exactly the way mediawiki code handles this problem. They have various-depth include paths.
So, for instance, inside includes/normal/UtfNormal.php (as of revision 19455) they do:
<?php
require_once dirname(__FILE__).'/UtfNormalUtil.php';
?>
...to include the file includes/normal/UtfNormal.php.
vahe dot ayvazyan at googlemail dot com
10-Jan-2007 07:12
10-Jan-2007 07:12
If you want the "include" function to work correctly with paths and GET parameters, try the following code:
<?php
$_GET['param1'] = 'param1value';
$_GET['param2'] = 'param2value';
@include($_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . "/path1/path2/include.php");
?>
Then within your "include.php" use $_GET['param1'] and $_GET['param2'] to access values of parameters.
I spent several hours to figure this out.
anonymous
01-Jan-2007 10:42
01-Jan-2007 10:42
I'm gonna throw my hat in the rink and also say that I've always thought that the include path being relative to the current directory is silly. PHP is the only language I can think of that does this. Almost all of my include paths have always had to be prefixed with <?php dirname(__FILE__) ?> to operate expectedly.
Nathan Ostgard
29-Dec-2006 03:27
29-Dec-2006 03:27
I have to agree with sean dot farrell at digital-egg dot org.
If I put "../" or "./" in a call to include(), I expect it to be relative to the file I am including from, not the current working directory of the application.
This backwards mentality for relative paths really interferes with PHP's ability to build packages of files independent of an application.
sean dot farrell at digital-egg dot org
29-Nov-2006 10:12
29-Nov-2006 10:12
The way PHP handles the ./ and ../ is totally counter intuitive. As said if the included file is preceded by a ./ and ../ it looked up from the current working directory. And that is defined by the of the EXECUTED script. That is the script that you specified in the url.
So if your have a.php that includes include/b.php that includes ../extern/c.php, it will not do what you want. You can use extern/c.php instead if you never execute outside of the document root. For me that just will not cut it. Since I execute test suites if files are directly called, like in python.
Here is my dirty trick that works, since I only have two levels of file hierarchy:
set_include_path("../:./");
require_once("extern/c.php");
And here is an open question: Why are the included files not looked up relative from the file that includes them and then in the include path? This would be a behavior like in all other languages.
rickkyREMOVETHIS at gmail dot com
17-Nov-2006 05:03
17-Nov-2006 05:03
In response to http://uk.php.net/manual/en/function.include.php#38000
Using the following at the top of your CLI scripts will make includes work similar to web PHP.
#!/usr/bin/php
<?php chdir(dirname(__FILE__)); ?>
This changes the current working directory to the one your script is running in. Its quite used for taking existing web scripts and getting them to run quickly in the command line.
Janci
16-Nov-2006 11:59
16-Nov-2006 11:59
Please note that althought you can call a function that is DEFINED later in the code, you cannot call a function that is defined in a file which is INCLUDED later. Consider following two examples:
Example 1:
<?php
test();
function test()
{
echo 'In test.';
}
?>
Example 2:
file1.php:
<?
test();
include 'file2.php';
?>
file2.php:
<?
function test()
{
echo 'In test.';
}
?>
Please be aware that while the first example will work as expected, the second one will generate a fatal error "Call to undefined function: test() ...". The same is true for the require.
mlindal at pfc dot forestry dot ca
08-Aug-2006 11:33
08-Aug-2006 11:33
If a person directly accesses an include file by mistake, you may want to forward them to a correct default page.
Do this by:
Say the file to be included is 'newpubs.php'
and the main pages are either newpubs_e.php or newpubs_f.php
if($_SERVER[PHP_SELF]=="/newpubs.php")
{
header("Location: newpubs_e.php");
exit;
}
Will send them to newpubs_e.php if they try to access newpubs.php directly.
medhefgo at googlemail dot com
27-May-2006 07:50
27-May-2006 07:50
Because there is no quick way to check if a file is in include_path, I've made this function:
<?php
function is_includeable($filename, $returnpaths = false) {
$include_paths = explode(PATH_SEPARATOR, ini_get('include_path'));
foreach ($include_paths as $path) {
$include = $path.DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR.$filename;
if (is_file($include) && is_readable($include)) {
if ($returnpaths == true) {
$includable_paths[] = $path;
} else {
return true;
}
}
}
return (isset($includeable_paths) && $returnpaths == true) ? $includeable_paths : false;
}
?>
NOdasnipaSPAM
20-May-2006 05:40
20-May-2006 05:40
at spam guard dot gmail com
to php dot net at reinsveien dot com:
if you know the domain the file should be coming from then you can parse the variable for the domain and make sure that it matches the domain you expect, example:
<?php
$path="/full/path/to/script/";
if (getdomain($path) == 'yourdomain'){
include($path.'somefile.php');
}
?>
this should prevent remote execution of any malicious script
lholst+phpnet at students dot cs dot uu dot nl
09-May-2006 03:15
09-May-2006 03:15
What cavarlier refers to is that on some editors, UTF-8 files are prefixed with a BOM (Byte Order Mark), an invisible marker three bytes in size, which are output by PHP if it encouters them (which is before the <?php on the first line). Notepad is particularly notorious creating these.
However, any decent editor (e.g. Notepad2) can save UTF-8 files without BOM, and if you do that the first <?php tag will truly be on the first character of the file.
So this does not mean that UTF-8 cannot be used by PHP.
cavarlier [at] hotmail [dot] com
23-Apr-2006 03:59
23-Apr-2006 03:59
please note when you include a (utf-8) encoded file, this will be sufficient to send headers even if it doesnt contain any line breaks
stalker at ruun dot de
10-Jan-2006 08:55
10-Jan-2006 08:55
a simple function to recursively include e.g. the include-directory of your site and its subdirs:
<?php
function includeRecurse($dirName) {
if(!is_dir($dirName))
return false;
$dirHandle = opendir($dirName);
while(false !== ($incFile = readdir($dirHandle))) {
if($incFile != "."
&& $incFile != "..") {
if(is_file("$dirName/$incFile"))
include_once("$dirName/$incFile");
elseif(is_dir("$dirName/$incFile"))
includeRecurse("$dirName/$incFile");
}
}
closedir($dirHandle);
}
?>
php at bucksvsbytes dot com
04-Oct-2005 03:31
04-Oct-2005 03:31
The documentation should make it clearer that the include argument is not a site path (i.e. not relative to the document root or to any web server defined aliases), but rather a path on the host relative to the calling script's directory.
Jesper Juhl
14-Aug-2005 11:14
14-Aug-2005 11:14
If you want to prevent direct access to some files and only allow them to be used as include files by other scripts, then an easy way to accomplish that is to check a define in the include file.
Like this.
includefile.php
---
<?php
defined('_VALID_INCLUDE') or die('Direct access not allowed.');
/* rest of file */
?>
script.php
---
<?php
define('_VALID_INCLUDE', TRUE);
include('includefile.php');
/* rest of file */
?>
ignacio esviza
20-Jul-2005 05:10
20-Jul-2005 05:10
Hi, there...
I've use this in order to grab the output from an include() but without sending it to the buffer.
Headers are not sent neither.
<?php
function include2($file){
$buffer = ob_get_contents();
include $file;
$output = substr(ob_get_contents(),strlen($buffer));
ob_end_clean();
ob_start();
echo $buffer;
return $output;
}
?>
Ethilien
19-Jul-2005 03:04
19-Jul-2005 03:04
Another way of getting the proper include path relative to the current file, rather than the working directory is:
<?php
include realpath(dirname(__FILE__) . "/" . "relative_path");
?>
Berenguer Blasi
04-Jul-2005 09:07
04-Jul-2005 09:07
When working with a well organized project you may come across multiple problems when including, if your files are properly stored in some nice folders structure such as:
- src
- web
- bo
- lib
- test
- whatever
as the include path's behaviour is somehow strange.
The workaround I use is having a file (ex: SiteCfg.class.php) where you set all the include paths for your project such as:
$BASE_PATH = dirname(__FILE__);
$DEPENDS_PATH = ".;".$BASE_PATH;
$DEPENDS_PATH .= ";".$BASE_PATH."/lib";
$DEPENDS_PATH .= ";".$BASE_PATH."/test";
ini_set("include_path", ini_get("include_path").";".$DEPENDS_PATH);
Make all paths in this file relative to IT'S path. Later on you can import any file within those folders from wherever with inlude/_once, require/_once without worrying about their path.
Just cross fingers you have permissions to change the server's include path.
17-May-2005 11:10
Thought you can figure it out by reading the doc, this hint might save you some time. If you override include_path, be sure to include the current directory ( . ) in the path list, otherwise include("includes/a.php") will not search in the current script directory.
e.g :
if(file_exists("includes/a.php"))
include("includes/a.php")
The first line will test to true, however include will not find the file, and you'll get a "failed to open stream" error
php at REMOVEMEkennel17 dot co dot uk
03-May-2005 08:20
03-May-2005 08:20
As stated above, when using return() to terminate execution of an included file, any functions defined in the file will still be defined in the global scope, even if the return() occurs before their definition.
It should be noted that class definitions behave in the same way.
morris.php <A T> it-solutions.org
28-Apr-2005 08:31
28-Apr-2005 08:31
Something not previously stated here - but found elsewhere - is that if a file is included using a URL and it has a '.php' extension - the file is parsed by php - not just included as it would be if it were linked to locally.
This means the functions and (more importantly) classes included will NOT work.
for example:
include "http://MyServer.com/MyInclude.php";
would not give you access to any classes or functions within the MyInclude.php file.
to get access to the functions or classes you need to include the file with a different extension - such as '.inc' This way the php interpreter will not 'get in the way' and the text will be included normally.
gillis dot php at TAKETHISAWAY dot gillis dot fi
14-Apr-2005 05:47
14-Apr-2005 05:47
This is not directly linked to the include function itself. But i had a problem with dynamically generated include-files that could generate parse errors and cause the whole script to parse-error.
So as i could not find any ready solution for this problem i wrote the mini-function. It's not the most handsome solution, but it works for me.
<?php
function ChkInc($file){
if(substr(exec("php -l $file"), 0, 28) == "No syntax errors detected in"){
return true;
}else{
return false;
}
}
?>
if someone else has a better solution, do post it...
Note. remember that this function uses unchecked variables passed to exec, so don't use it for direct user input without improving it.
//Gillis Danielsen
dragon at wastelands dot net
10-Dec-2004 08:30
10-Dec-2004 08:30
The __FILE__ macro will give the full path and name of an included script when called from inside the script. E.g.
<? include("/different/root/script.php"); ?>
And this file contains:
<? echo __FILE__; ?>
The output is:
/different/root/script.php
Surprisingly useful :> Obviously something like dirname(__FILE__) works just fine.
mattcimino at gardiners dot com
11-Aug-2004 08:47
11-Aug-2004 08:47
To avoid painfully SLOW INCLUDES under IIS be sure to set "output_buffering = on" in php.ini. File includes dropped from about 2 seconds to 0 seconds when this was set.
durkboek A_T hotmail D_O_T com
03-Jun-2004 07:09
03-Jun-2004 07:09
I would like to emphasize the danger of remote includes. For example:
Suppose, we have a server A with Linux and PHP 4.3.0 or greater installed which has the file index.php with the following code:
<?php
// File: index.php
include ($_GET['id'].".php");
?>
This is, of course, not a very good way to program, but i actually found a program doing this.
Then, we hava a server B, also Linux with PHP installed, that has the file list.php with the following code:
<?php
// File: list.php
$output = "";
exec("ls -al",$output);
foreach($output as $line) {
echo $line . "<br>\n";
}
?>
If index.php on Server A is called like this: http://server_a/index.php?id=http://server_b/list
then Server B will execute list.php and Server A will include the output of Server B, a list of files.
But here's the trick: if Server B doesn't have PHP installed, it returns the file list.php to Server A, and Server A executes that file. Now we have a file listing of Server A!
I tried this on three different servers, and it allways worked.
This is only an example, but there have been hacks uploading files to servers etc.
So, allways be extremely carefull with remote includes.
moosh at php dot net
15-Jan-2004 11:03
15-Jan-2004 11:03
<?php
@include('/foo') OR die ("bar"); # <- Won't work
@(include('/foo')) OR die ("bar"); # <- Works
?>
so "or" have prority on "include"
james at gogo dot co dot nz
10-Dec-2003 02:03
10-Dec-2003 02:03
While you can return a value from an included file, and receive the value as you would expect, you do not seem to be able to return a reference in any way (except in array, references are always preserved in arrays).
For example, we have two files, file 1.php contains...
<?php
function &x(&$y)
{
return include(dirname(__FILE__) . '/2.php');
}
$z = "FOO\n";
$z2 = &x($z);
echo $z2;
$z = "NOO\n";
echo $z2;
?>
and file 2.php contains...
<?php return $y; ?>
calling 1.php will produce
FOO
FOO
i.e the reference passed to x() is broken on it's way out of the include()
Neither can you do something like <?php $foo =& include(....); ?> as that's a parse error (include is not a real function, so can't take a reference in that case). And you also can't do <?php return &$foo ?> in the included file (parse error again, nothing to assign the reference too).
The only solutions are to set a variable with the reference which the including code can then return itself, or return an array with the reference inside.
---
James Sleeman
http://www.gogo.co.nz/
david dot gaia dot kano at dartmouth dot edu
04-Dec-2003 05:13
04-Dec-2003 05:13
I just discovered a "gotcha" for the behavior of include when using the command line version of php.
I copied all the included files needed for a new version of a program into a temporary directory, so I could run them "off to the side" before they were ready for release into the live area. One of the files with a new version (call it common.inc.php for this example) normally lives in one of the directories in the include path. But I did not want to put the new version there yet! So I copied common.inc.php into my temporary directory along with the others, figuring that the interpreter would find it there before it found it in the include directory, because my include path has a . at the beginning. When I tested it, everything was fine.
But then I setup a cron job to run the script automatically every day. In the crontab I placed the full path of the script. But when it ran, it included the old version of my common.inc.php file out of the include directory. Interestingly, the other include files that only existed in the temporary directory were included fine.
Evidently AFTER the include path is searched, the directory in which the main script lives is searched as well. So my temporary installation almost worked fine, except for the lack of the small change I had made in the common file introduced a bug.
To make it work I use a shell script to start my php script. It contains a cd command into the temporary directory, then starts the php script.
So "current directory" (the . in the include path) for a command line script is really the current directory you are in when executing the script. Whereas it means the directory in which the script lives when executing under apache.
I hope this helps save someone else the hours it took me to figure out my problem!
David
php at mijav dot dk
19-Nov-2003 10:07
19-Nov-2003 10:07
The @ directive works with this construct as well. My experience is you can use an if-statement to verify if the script w