Although I have a fair idea of relative path but I am a little confused while using this particular relative path in a program. Please someone guide me through. I have the following directory structure:
The problem here is that I want to include config.php file in left.php, for that I have given a relative path, include(../../layout/config.php); but somehow this is not being included and the relative path that I have to use is include(../layout/config.php);. Can someone please explain why is that so? Because my knowledge says that I will have to leave includes->admin and then enter layout.
In PHP it's the working direcory that is used as the main path.
All relative paths originate from that folder.
As you wrote in comments you use index.php which is one folder lower than left.
I assume you are in index and include left.php, this does not update the working directory.
Your working directory is still "admin".
You can find out what the working directory is using echo getcwd();
http://php.net/manual/en/function.getcwd.php
As I wrote in comments you can use include($_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . "/Electronix_Store/electronix/layout/config.php"); to use full path instead.
This is easier if the files and folders are in the same position all the time.
My advise is to only use relative paths if you are working with day "user/123/" -> some folder structure in there.
Related
I have this site I'm making. When I include a php file from the same folder it works but when I do
<?php include('/ioanblog/appstore/header.php');?>
it doesn't work or
<?php include('http://www.domain.co.uk/appstore/header.php');?>
that isn't working either.
All the header is holding is a style sheet and Piwik code, it will also hold navigation.
It's hard to say why the include won't work without knowing the folder structure.
But you can try it with the absolute path: /home/user/domain/public_html/etc...
Read the documentation on relative paths.
If a path is defined — whether absolute (starting with a drive letter or \ on Windows, or / on Unix/Linux systems) or relative to the current directory (starting with . or ..) — the include_path will be ignored altogether. For example, if a filename begins with ../, the parser will look in the parent directory to find the requested file.
You are using /ioanblog/… which is an absolute path. I suspect your site is in /var/www/public_html/ioanblog/… or /home/user/ioanblog/… or something similar, not in /ioanblog/…. You should remove the first / making it a relative instead of an absolute path. You might have to go "up" to parent directories like ../contents/header.php or ../../contents/header.php for the actual file.
As pointed out by brbcoding it should probably be ../../header.php. But first make sure you understand absolute/relative paths!
You might also want to read up on realpath() to 'convert' relative paths to absolute paths.
Use <?php include('../../header.php');?>
That's my guess... You don't have an appstore directory anywhere as far as I can tell.
EDIT: Updated with the correct path... Coming from the libreoffice directory.
try removing the first slash so include('ioanblog/appstore/header.php');
This works
<?php include("inc/c.php")?>
But in a folder past this, this does not work
<?php include("../inc/c.php")?>
I have to do
<?php include("/var/web/public_html/etc/inc/c.php")?>
I know in ASP you can enable virtual paths and directories. Is this the same with PHP?
If you're including a file from a folder, all includes are relative to the includer's file.
Therefore, the same code should work for the file in the sub-folder:
<?php include("inc/c.php")?>
You can use realpath(dirname(__FILE__)) to include files relatively to current file:
include(realpath(dirname(__FILE__).'/../inc/c.php'));
You can add directories to PHP's include_path directory. When you specify a relative file name, PHP will look for that file relative to all directories specified in the include_path.
Take a look at http://php.net/manual/en/function.set-include-path.php#example-488.
use
dirname(__file__)
it will return you path of current directory.
But in a folder past this, this does not work
Nope, it does work.
I know in ASP you can enable virtual paths and directories. Is this the same with PHP?
Yes. But whole virtual path thing has nothing to do with your case.
This is not PHP problem. This is developer's problem who is using wrong path.
To make your code fool-proof, always use absolute paths. Build paths not from current location but from the site root. So, it will be all the same in the ANY page on your site.
Most general way would be
include $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT']."/etc/inc/c.php";
I have a web application in php. I have a header.php file where I have the opening html tag, meta data, css,js file includes.
I have multiple folders in this application. I have given relative paths to the css,js files in the header.php. The problem I am facing is, when I include this header.php file in some other file say, ./test-folder/my-file.php, the relative paths break.
so to solve this i have given absolute paths where ever needed. But I have to change these paths every time I upload on to server. Can this be done in any other way?
Thanks in advance
Anji
Do not use static value for path instead define a constant for document root and use that constant
define('ROOT_PATH',$_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT']);
While including files you can use this constant.
include ROOT_PATH.'/some_dir/file.php';
You have bad architecture in your application. Try to search info about MVC.
This answer may be useful: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5721353/what-is-good-neat-architecture-in-programming/5793753#5793753
So:
change architicture,
use autoload
Relative paths are relative to the current working directory (cwd). If you just include another file that cwd does not change.
If you want to have paths that are (somewhat) relative to the current script file path you can use e.g.
require dirname(__FILE__).'/some_dir/file.php';
or as of php 5.3
require __DIR__.'/some_dir/file.php';
see also: http://docs.php.net/language.constants.predefined
If I understood your question right, you just would like to know the root folder your application without the need to hardcode it.
The easier way is to define a constant as Shakti has answered.
However, you could actually have a file with a unique name such as "foobar" in the root folder, then walk up the tree from current directory until you find foobar.
I am building a web app (a forum), and it is to be integrated into various websites. The idea is that the folder location storing all the files is variable so that a webmin can put the forum wherever they like. I have, as usual, some PHP included files.
Say I have global.php and envars.php and want them included in app_root.php. The first two are stored in ./global/, relative to app_root.php. Now, when I use ./ I get a file not found error. If I use just global/ (no prepended slash), I get the same error.
I really need help on this :-(
The paths need to be relative to app_root.php and can't be absolute - the abs. path varies per installation.
Thanks for reading,
James
This problem is normally solved by creating a constant with an absolute path to the application.
Something like this in your app_root.php file
define('ROOT_PATH', dirname(__FILE__));
Then, to include other files just use something like
include ROOT_PATH . '/dir/file.php';
In HTML, I can find a file starting from the web server's root folder by beginning the filepath with "/". Like:
/images/some_image.jpg
I can put that path in any file in any subdirectory, and it will point to the right image.
With PHP, I tried something similar:
include("/includes/header.php");
...but that doesn't work.
I think that that this page is saying that I can set include_path once and after that, it will be assumed. But I don't quite get the syntax. Both examples start with a period, and it says:
Using a . in the include path allows for relative includes as it means the current directory.
Relative includes are exactly what I don't want.
How do I make sure that all my includes point to the root/includes folder? (Bonus: what if I want to place that folder outside the public directory?)
Clarification
My development files are currently being served by XAMPP/Apache. Does that affect the absolute path? (I'm not sure yet what the production server will be.)
Update
I don't know what my problem was here. The include_path thing I referenced above was exactly what I was looking for, and the syntax isn't really confusing. I just tried it and it works great.
One thing that occurs to me is that some people may have thought that "/some/path" was an "absolute path" because they assumed the OS was Linux. This server is Windows, so an absolute path would have to start with the drive name.
Anyway, problem solved! :)
What I do is put a config.php file in my root directory. This file is included by all PHP files in my project. In that config.php file, I then do the following;
define( 'ROOT_DIR', dirname(__FILE__) );
Then in all files, I know what the root of my project is and can do stuff like this
require_once( ROOT_DIR.'/include/functions.php' );
Sorry, no bonus points for getting outside of the public directory ;) This also has the unfortunate side affect that you still need a relative path for finding config.php, but it makes the rest of your includes much easier.
One strategy
I don't know if this is the best way, but it has worked for me.
$root = $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'];
include($root."/path/to/file.php");
The include_path setting works like $PATH in unix (there is a similar setting in Windows too).It contains multiple directory names, seperated by colons (:). When you include or require a file, these directories are searched in order, until a match is found or all directories are searched.
So, to make sure that your application always includes from your path if the file exists there, simply put your include dir first in the list of directories.
ini_set("include_path", "/your_include_path:".ini_get("include_path"));
This way, your include directory is searched first, and then the original search path (by default the current directory, and then PEAR). If you have no problem modifying include_path, then this is the solution for you.
There is nothing in include/require that prohibits you from using absolute an path.
so your example
include('/includes/header.php');
should work just fine. Assuming the path and file are corect and have the correct permissions set.
(and thereby allow you to include whatever file you like, in- or outside your document root)
This behaviour is however considered to be a possible security risk. Therefore, the system administrator can set the open_basedir directive.
This directive configures where you can include/require your files from and it might just be your problem.
Some control panels (plesk for example) set this directive to be the same as the document root by default.
as for the '.' syntax:
/home/username/public_html <- absolute path
public_html <- relative path
./public_html <- same as the path above
../username/public_html <- another relative path
However, I usually use a slightly different option:
require_once(__DIR__ . '/Factories/ViewFactory.php');
With this edition, you specify an absolute path, relative to the file that contains the require_once() statement.
Another option is to create a file in the $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] directory with the definition of your absolute path.
For example, if your $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] directory is
C:\wamp\www\
create a file (i.e. my_paths.php) containing this
<?php if(!defined('MY_ABS_PATH')) define('MY_ABS_PATH',$_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'].'MyProyect/')
Now you only need to include in every file inside your MyProyect folder this file (my_paths.php), so you can user MY_ABS_PATH as an absolute path for MyProject.
Not directly answering your question but something to remember:
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.
from: http://us2.php.net/manual/en/function.include.php#84052
hey all...i had a similar problem with my cms system.
i needed a hard path for some security aspects.
think the best way is like rob wrote. for quick an dirty coding
think this works also..:-)
<?php
$path = getcwd();
$myfile = "/test.inc.php";
/*
getcwd () points to:
/usr/srv/apache/htdocs/myworkingdir (as example)
echo ($path.$myfile);
would return...
/usr/srv/apache/htdocs/myworkingdir/test.inc.php
access outside your working directory is not allowed.
*/
includ_once ($path.$myfile);
//some code
?>
nice day
strtok
I follow Wordpress's example on this one. I go and define a root path, normally the document root, and then go define a bunch of other path's along with that (one for each of my class dirs. IE: database, users, html, etc). Often I will define the root path manually instead of relying on a server variable.
Example
if($_SERVER['SERVERNAME'] == "localhost")
{
define("ABS_PATH", "/path/to/upper/most/directory"); // Manual
}
else
{
define("ABS_PATH, dirname(__FILE__));
// This defines the path as the directory of the containing file, normally a config.php
}
// define other paths...
include(ABS_PATH."/mystuff.php");
Thanks - this is one of 2 links that com up if you google for php apache windows absolute path.
As a newbie to intermed PHP developer I didnt understand why absolute paths on apache windopws systems would be c:\xampp\htdocs (apache document root - XAMPP default) instead of /
thus if in http//localhost/myapp/subfolder1/subfolder2/myfile.php I wanted to include a file from http//localhost/myapp
I would need to specify it as:
include("c:\xampp\htdocs\myapp\includeme.php")
or
include("../../includeme.php")
AND NOT
include("/myapp/includeme.php")
I've come up with a single line of code to set at top of my every php script as to compensate:
<?php if(!$root) for($i=count(explode("/",$_SERVER["PHP_SELF"]));$i>2;$i--) $root .= "../"; ?>
By this building $root to bee "../" steps up in hierarchy from wherever the file is placed.
Whenever I want to include with an absolut path the line will be:
<?php include($root."some/include/directory/file.php"); ?>
I don't really like it, seems as an awkward way to solve it, but it seem to work whatever system php runs on and wherever the file is placed, making it system independent.
To reach files outside the web directory add some more ../ after $root, e.g. $root."../external/file.txt".