Re: best way to properly build an include path *regardless* from where I am calling the include?

On Mon, Jul 6, 2009 at 11:04, Govinda<govinda.webdnatalk@gmail.com> wrote: > > Kim, this is exactly what I was looking for.  I had been over $_SERVER in > the docs..  but somehow missed that basic obvious param.  Thanks! And now I'll throw a monkey wrench into the gears and tell you that, yes, it works, but don't always rely on it. The path translated to/from the web server may not be the real path. And while you could do your translation with realpath(), instead you should look into: <?php include(dirname(dirname(__FILE__)).'/include/file.php'); ?> The example above uses the always-on reserved constant __FILE__ for the file in which it's written, regardless of how it's accessed (as an include, etc.). So consider the following: /home/user/public_html/index.php /home/user/public_html/web/home.php /home/user/public_html/templates/body.tpl.php /home/user/public_html/include/file.php In the example above, imagine that you access 'index.php', which includes 'home.php', which - in turn - includes 'body.tpl.php' and 'file.php'. Using $_SERVER data will use the information given to it by the webserver at the point of the call: in this case, from /home/user/public_html/index.php. As such, the include path will be relative to that. So if you're including a file in ./web/home.php, you will need to hard-code the adjustment to account for the difference. Conversely, using the code example from above (and building upon it), we know that __FILE__ remains static regardless of the point of the call. Thus, it's a better and more reliable method, and is usable even if $_SERVER data is not available to the script. With this in mind, it should be quite simple to understand how the following should work: <?php // My Name: /home/user/public_html/web/home.php $file_to_include = dirname(dirname(__FILE__)).'/include/file.php'; if(file_exists($file_to_include) && is_readable($file_to_include)) { include($file_to_include); } else { // Do your error handling here. } ?> .... but to each his/her own! ;-P -- </Daniel P. Brown> daniel.brown@parasane.net || danbrown@php.net http://www.parasane.net/ || http://www.pilotpig.net/ Check out our great hosting and dedicated server deals at http://twitter.com/pilotpig