PHP require failing to open stream - php

Question

I am struggling trying to figure out why my require path link is not working.
My folder setup is the following:
Main domain on server test.example.com.
public_html -> test.example.com -> PHPMailer -> PHPMailerAutoload.php
Since the main domain is test.example.com, I am putting test.example.com in the path url. I have to do this for any link on the site (it was a setup mistake, but I haven't changed it yet).
The way I am trying to access this folder is below:
require 'test.example.com/test.example.com/PHPMailer-master/PHPMailerAutoload.php';
I get the following errors:
Warning: require(test.example.com/PHPMailer-master/PHPMailerAutoload.php): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/example/public_html/test.example.com/php/newsletterSend.php on line 4
Warning: require(test.example.com/test.example.com/PHPMailer-master/PHPMailerAutoload.php): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/example/public_html/test.example.com/php/newsletterSend.php on line 4
Fatal error: require(): Failed opening required 'test.example.com/test.example.com/PHPMailer-master/PHPMailerAutoload.php' (include_path='.:/opt/cpanel/ea-php71/root/usr/share/pear') in /home/example/public_html/test.example.com/php/newsletterSend.php on line 4
I need the link to be an absolute path because the file will be used in different folders.
Does anyone see what I am doing wrong?

Answer 1

it looks like your php is in a directory above the phpMailer folder.. so i think the path would be "../PHPMailer/PHPMailerAutoload.php"
you can use absolute paths if its simpler:
/home/foo/public_html/test.example.com/PHPMailer/PHPMailerAutoload.php
or relative paths if you know where you're starting!
../PHPMailer/PHPMailerAutoload.php