Bug #13936 Updated: Magical Constant __FILE__ contains wrong information on included files

ID: 13936 Updated by: jpm Reported By: jpm@phpbrasil.com Status: Open Bug Type: Variables related Operating System: Solaris PHP Version: 4.0.6 New Comment: Another good argument in favor of __FILE__ returning the full path is the actual purpose of this variable. People usually use __FILE__ and __LINE__ to develop routines to report problems or even events on their applications. As the manual says, one could write something like this: <?php function report_error($file, $line, $message) { echo "An error occured in $file on line $line: $message."; } report_error(__FILE__, __LINE__, "Something went wrong!"); ?> To get a report of eventual errors on some library file. Can you tell me how would I know _which_ library file or script the error occurred without __FILE__ returning me the full path of the offending script ? We could have several 'index.php' files running this 'report_error' function, and if __FILE__ returns only 'index.php', then we wouldn't know exactly which file it is. Anyway, I think it is pretty clear __FILE__ should return the full path. --Joao Previous Comments: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2001-11-05 16:58:46] jpm@php.net Well, I expect PHP to give me the full path of the script (/usr/home/jpm/boohoo/test.php for instance) and not just 'test.php'. What would be the purpose of __FILE__ if the full path was not returned ? We already have $PHP_SELF / $SCRIPT_NAME for the real name of the script. Don't you think it is a bit strange that your own test gave you '../test.php' on the original script and then the full path for the included one ? To go down to the real problem - I need a portable way to find the real location of the script on the server, being the server Apache, IIS, PWS or whatever you want to use. Using __FILE__ until now was the only way to get what I want, and now this problems is cropping up on me. One more time, if __FILE__ is meant to be the way it is now (as you said, we probably have a misconception of what __FILE__ should return), then I need some other way to get the full path for a script in a portable way. I'm putting this bug as open again so someone with a real answer can update this (no more 'probably' please ;) --Joao ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2001-11-05 16:10:20] jeroen@php.net You say that it doesn't work correctly, but what did you expect then, and what did PHP return? I expect: (see the manual) orig file: test.php included file: test2.php anothyer try: test2.php And indeed: [jjawolff@abeel]/tmp/php/php-4.0.6> uname -a SunOS abeel.students.cs.uu.nl 5.6 Generic_105181-26 sun4u sparc SUNW,Ultra-5_10 [jjawolff@abeel]/tmp/php/php-4.0.6> ./php ../test.php X-Powered-By: PHP/4.0.6 Content-type: text/html original file is: ../test.php<br>included file is: /tmp/php/test2.php<br>another try: /tmp/php/test2.php[jjawolff@abeel]/tmp/php/php-4.0.6> So this probably not a bug, but a misunderstanding of __FILE__ (note: __FILE__ being '../test.php' is not what i'd expect, I expected an absolute path name) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2001-11-05 11:34:13] jpm@phpbrasil.com [jpm@mercury: Mon Nov 5 11:27:56] [~]$ uname -a SunOS mercury 5.8 Generic_108529-10 i86pc i386 i86pc This is a very strange bug, as I have a similar piece of code running on the same server and it gives me the expected information (i.e. the full server related path for the script being run). However, this simple set of scripts gives me the wrong information: contents of test.php: <?php echo "original file is: " . __FILE__ . "<br>"; include("test2.php"); ?> contents of test2.php: <?php echo "included file is: " . __FILE__ . "<br>"; $boo = "another try: " . __FILE__; echo $boo; ?> As described above, a similar piece of code works perfectly on the same server but using a different virtual host. This similar code is actually a bunch of classes that use a specialized Error handler class to report any problems, and the error is mailed to me. On these emails, I get the correct __FILE__ output and everything works as expected. Any pointers would be very appreciated. Joao Prado Maia ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Edit this bug report at http://bugs.php.net/?id=13936&edit=1