I've created a PHP file url.php and wrote this codes -
<?php
define("BASE_URL", "/geo15/" );
define("ROOT_PATH", $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . "geo15/" );
?>
I've included the url.php file in several pages but when I browse those files, I get this error message:
Warning: require_once(inc/url.php): failed to open stream: No such
file or directory in C:\wamp\www\geo15\inc\header.php on line 1
But when I paste the path C:\wamp\www\geo15\inc\header.php in my browser's URL bar, it opens.
N.B. I'm using WAMP server for the development.
The DOCUMENT_ROOT would output something like "c:/wamp/www" so you'll be missing one / there. Your current code would actually output something like "c:/wamp/wwwgeo15/".
Also, make sure that 'geo15/' is in the actual www directory rather than an alias. If it is an alias then you'll definitely get a broken link. In addition, you might find the following useful:
dirname($_SERVER['SCRIPT_FILENAME'])
Would output something like 'x:/path/to/the/current/executing/php/file'.
$_SERVER['SCRIPT_FILENAME'] would output something like 'x:/path/to/the/current/executing/php/file/theCurrentRunningFile.php'.
This is useful for locating pages that you need to include, includeonce, or require.
dirname($_SERVER['PHP_SELF'])
Would output something like '/myAliasDirectory/and/path/to/current/php/file'.
$_SERVER['PHP_SELF'] would output something like '/myAliasDirectory/and/path/to/current/php/file/theCurrentRunningFile.php'.
This is useful for creating dynamic hyperlinks.
Alternatively, if you have a lot of sub-directories, you might want to consider using "../" to point out a directory above the current directory. So, if your script is "/my/path/to/current/runningscript.php" and the file you want to include is in "/include/this/file.php", then the right way to include it is "include('../../../../../include/this/file.php');".
And.. beginning with a "/" will also bring you to the root directory or actually, it can either point to the root directory of the current alias OR the root directory of the hard drive, while beginning with no slash will start on the current directory of the running script. If you're working in an alias "/myAliasDirectory/" starting your include with / like in "include('/file.php')" would work if "file.php" is in either "x:/file.php" or "/myAliasDirectory/file.php". So yeah, it gets pretty confusing if you do that so I'll only half recommend it.
I use this code (in Unix):
include dirname(__FILE__).'/paht/relative/to/the/current/file/file_name.php';
It works in all situations.
in Windows, you may use:
include dirname(__FILE__).'\paht\relative\to\the\current\file\file_name.php';
Related
I have seen this:
<?php
include( dirname(__FILE__) . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . 'my_file.php');
?>
Why would I ever need to do this? Why would I go to the trouble of getting the dirname and then concatenating that with a directory separator, and a new filename?
Is the code above not equivalent to this:
<?php
include( 'my_file.php' );
?>
??
The PHP doc says,
Files are included based on the file path given or, if none is given, the include_path specified. If the file isn't found in the include_path, include() will finally check in the calling script's own directory and the current working directory before failing. The include() construct will emit a warning if it cannot find a file; this is different behavior from require(), which will emit a fatal error.
Let's say I have a (fake) directory structure like:
.../root/
/app
bootstrap.php
/scripts
something/
somescript.php
/public
index.php
Now assume that bootstrap.php has some code included for setting up database connections or some other kind of boostrapping stuff.
Assume you want to include a file in boostrap.php's folder called init.php. Now, to avoid scanning the entire include path with include 'init.php', you could use include './init.php'.
There's a problem though. That ./ will be relative to the script that included bootstrap.php, not bootstrap.php. (Technically speaking, it will be relative to the working directory.)
dirname(__FILE__) allows you to get an absolute path (and thus avoid an include path search) without relying on the working directory being the directory in which bootstrap.php resides.
(Note: since PHP 5.3, you can use __DIR__ in place of dirname(__FILE__).)
Now, why not just use include 'init.php';?
As odd as it is at first though, . is not guaranteed to be in the include path. Sometimes to avoid useless stat()'s people remove it from the include path when they are rarely include files in the same directory (why search the current directory when you know includes are never going to be there?).
Note: About half of this answer is address in a rather old post: What's better of require(dirname(__FILE__).'/'.'myParent.php') than just require('myParent.php')?
I might have even a simpler explanation to this question compared to the accepted answer so I'm going to give it a go: Assume this is the structure of the files and directories of a project:
Project root directory:
file1.php
file3.php
dir1/
file2.php
(dir1 is a directory and file2.php is inside it)
And this is the content of each of the three files above:
//file1.php:
<?php include "dir1/file2.php"
//file2.php:
<?php include "../file3.php"
//file3.php:
<?php echo "Hello, Test!";
Now run file1.php and try to guess what should happen. You might expect to see "Hello, Test!", however, it won't be shown! What you'll get instead will be an error indicating that the file you have requested(file3.php) does not exist!
The reason is that, inside file1.php when you include file2.php, the content of it is getting copied and then pasted back directly into file1.php which is inside the root directory, thus this part "../file3.php" runs from the root directory and thus goes one directory up the root! (and obviously it won't find the file3.php).
Now, what should we do ?!
Relative paths of course have the problem above, so we have to use absolute paths. However, absolute paths have also one problem. If you (for example) copy the root folder (containing your whole project) and paste it in anywhere else on your computer, the paths will be invalid from that point on! And that'll be a REAL MESS!
So we kind of need paths that are both absolute and dynamic(Each file dynamically finds the absolute path of itself wherever we place it)!
The way we do that is by getting help from PHP, and dirname() is the function to go for, which gives the absolute path to the directory in which a file exists in. And each file name could also be easily accessed using the __FILE__ constant. So dirname(__FILE__) would easily give you the absolute (while dynamic!) path to the file we're typing in the above code. Now move your whole project to a new place, or even a new system, and tada! it works!
So now if we turn the project above to this:
//file1.php:
<?php include(dirname(__FILE__)."/dir1/file2.php");
//file2.php:
<?php include(dirname(__FILE__)."/../file3.php");
//file3.php:
<?php echo "Hello, Test!";
if you run it, you'll see the almighty Hello, Test!! (hopefully, if you've not done anything else wrong).
It's also worth mentioning that from PHP5, a nicer way(with regards to readability and preventing eye boilage!) has been provided by PHP as well which is the constant __DIR__ which does exactly the same thing as dirname(__FILE__)!
Hope that helps.
I used this below if this is what you are thinking. It it worked well for me.
<?php
include $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT']."/head_lib.php";
?>
What I was trying to do was pulla file called /head_lib.php from the root folder. It would not pull anything to build the webpage. The header, footer and other key features in sub directories would never show up. Until I did above it worked like a champ.
If you want code is running on multiple servers with different environments,then we have need
to use dirname(FILE) in an include or include_once statement.
reason is follows.
1. Do not give absolute path to include files on your server.
2. Dynamically calculate the full path like absolute path.
Use a combination of dirname(FILE) and subsequent calls to itself until you reach to the home of your '/myfile.php'.
Then attach this variable that contains the path to your included files.
I'm needing to include a file from the parent directory, and other sub-directories, into a sub-directory. I've done it before by simply using include('/rootdirectory/file.php'); but now it won't seem to work.
Just wondering how I can do this, thanks.
Here's my exact line:
include('/forums/groups.php');
It's giving me this error(the page still runs):
Warning: include(/forums/groups.php) [function.include]: failed to
open stream: No such file or directory in
C:\xampp\htdocs\forums\blog\posts.php on line
Warning: include() [function.include]: Failed opening
'/forums/groups.php' for inclusion
(include_path='.;C:\xampp\php\PEAR') in
C:\xampp\htdocs\forums\blog\posts.php on line 3
include() and its relatives take filesystem paths, not web paths relative to the document root. To get the parent directory, use ../
include('../somefilein_parent.php');
include('../../somefile_2levels_up.php');
If you begin with a /, an absolute system file path will be used:
// Full absolute path...
include('/home/username/sites/project/include/config.php');
If your server is not resolving the file from the parent directory using
include '../somefilein_parent.php'
try this (using the parent directory relative to the script):
include __DIR__ . "/../somefilein_parent.php";
Here's something I wrote with that problem in mind:
<?
function absolute_include($file)
{
/*
$file is the file url relative to the root of your site.
Yourdomain.com/folder/file.inc would be passed as
"folder/file.inc"
*/
$folder_depth = substr_count($_SERVER["PHP_SELF"] , "/");
if($folder_depth == false)
$folder_depth = 1;
include(str_repeat("../", $folder_depth - 1) . $file);
}
?>
hope it helps.
Depends on where the file you are trying to include from is located.
Example:
/rootdir/pages/file.php
/someotherDir/index.php
If you wrote the following in index.php:
include('/rootdir/pages/file.php');it would error becuase it would try to get:
/someotherDir/rootdir/pages/file.php Which of course doesn't exist...
So you would have to use include('../rootdir/pages/file.php');
In laymans terms, and practicality, I see this as an old DOS trick/thing. Whoa! What was that? DOS? Never heard of it!
".." backs you out of the current sub-directory one time to a higher folder/directory, and .. enter typed twice backs you out too 2 higher parent folders. Keep adding the ".. enter" back to back and you will soon find yourself at the top level of the directory.
As for Newbies to understand this better, consider this (in terms of the home PC or "C:\ drive" if you know what that means, rather than the web-servers/host "root directory" ). While your at it, Consider your website existing somewhere on your home PC's hard drive, buried in some folder under the C:\ drive. Lastly, you can think of it as ".." is back one directory and "/" is forward one directory/folder.
Now!
If you are using the command prompt and are within the "myDocuments" folder of your PC you must back out of that folder to get closer to the higher directory "C:\" by typing the "../".
If you wanted to access a file that is located in the widows directory while you are still in the myDocuments folder you would theoretically type ../windows; in reality of DOS command prompt you would simply type .., but I am setting you up for the web. The / redirects forward to another directory naturally.
Using "myDocuments" lets pretend that you created 2 folders within it called "PHP1" and "PHP2", in such we now have the folders:
C:\myDocuments\PHP1
C:\myDocuments\PHP2
In PHP1 you place a file called index.php. and in PHP2 folder you placed a file called Found.php. it now becomes:
C:\myDocuments\PHP1\index.php
C:\myDocuments\PHP2\found.php
Inside the
C:\myDocuments\PHP1\index.php file you would need to edit and type something like:
<?php include ('../php2/found.php')?>
The ../ is positional thus it considers your current file location "C:\myDocuments\PHP1\index.php" and is a directive telling it to back out of PHP1 directory and enter or move forward into PHP2 directory to look for the Found.php file. But does it read it? See my thoughts on trouble shooting below.
Now! suppose you have 1 folder PHP1 and a sub-folder PHP2:
C:\myDocuments\PHP1\PHP2
you would simply reference/code
<?php include('/PHP2/found.php') ?>
as PHP2 exist as a sub-directory, below or within PHP1 directory.
If the above does not work it may have something to do with access/htaccess or permission to the directory or a typo. To enhance this...getting into trouble shooting...If the "found.php" file has errors/typo's within it, it will crash upon rendering at the error, such could be the reason (require/require_once) that you are experiencing the illusion that it is not changing directories or accessing the file.
At last thought on the matter, you may need to instantiate your functions or references in order to use the included/require "whatever" by creating a new variable or object such as
$newObject = new nameobject("origianlThingy");
Remember, just because you are including/requiring something, sometimes means just that, it is included/required to run, but it might need to be recreated to make it active or access it. New will surely re-create an instance of it "if it is readable" and make it available within the current document while preserving the original. However you should reference the newly created variable $newObject in all instances....if its global.
To put this in perspective of some web host account; the web host is some whopping over sized hard-drive (like that on your PC) and your domain is nothing more than a folder they have assigned to you. Your folder is called the root. Inside that folder you can do anything you are allowed to do.
your "one of many ways" to move between directories/folders is to use the ../ however many times to back out of your current in reference to folder position you want to find.
In my drunken state I realize that I know too much to be sane, and not
enough to be insane!"
Any path beginning with a slash will be an absolute path. From the root-folder of the server and not the root-folder of your document root. You can use ../ to go into the parent directory.
You may interest in using php's inbuilt function realpath().
and passing a constant DIR
for example:
$TargetDirectory = realpath(__DIR__."/../.."); //Will take you 2 folder's back
String realpath() :: Returns canonicalized absolute pathname ..
I took inspiration from frank and I added something like this in my "settings.php" file that is then included in all pages when there is a link:
"settings.php"
$folder_depth = substr_count($_SERVER["PHP_SELF"] , "/");
$slash="";
for ($i=1;$i<=($folder_depth-2);++$i){
$slash= $slash."../";
}
in my header.php to be included in all pages:
a href= .... php echo $slash.'index.php'....
seems it works both on local and hosted environment....
(NOTE: I am an absolute beginner )
Had same issue earlier solved like this :
include('/../includes/config.php'); //note '/' appearing before '../includes/config.php'
the root directory (in PHP) is the directory of the file that is pinged. For example, I go to http://localhost/directory/to/file/index.php, the root directory will be "/dictory/to/file", since it's the one that you've made a web request for.
I can't believe none of the answers pointed to the function dirname() (available since PHP 4).
Basically, it returns the full path for the referenced object. If you use a file as a reference, the function returns the full path of the file. If the referenced object is a folder, the function will return the parent folder of that folder.
https://www.php.net/manual/en/function.dirname.php
For the current folder of the current file, use $current = dirname(__FILE__);.
For a parent folder of the current folder, simply use $parent = dirname(__DIR__);.
If your configuration file PHP.ini is set up correctly then you can use:
include($_SERVER["DOCUMENT_ROOT"]."/my_script.php");
// or
require($_SERVER["DOCUMENT_ROOT"]."/my_script.php");
In the root (www) I have two folders.
In the first folder, "folder1", I put a file called register.php.
In the next folder, "folder2", I put files called header.php and footer.php.
I need to include the header and footer files from folder2 in the register.php file.
How can i do this? I tried to use this include ../folder2/header.php
..but it does not work
On some configurations, adding ./ (current dir) does the trick like this:
include './../folder2/header.php';
Alternatively, you can specify in terms of document root:
include $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . 'folder2/header.php';
<?php include( $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . 'folder2/header.php' ); ?>
include $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . '/folder2/header.php';
would work from any directory of the site
it is called absolute path and it's the only reliable way to address a file
However, in real it should be something like
include $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . '/cfg.php';
// some code
include $TPL_HEADER;
using a variable, previously defined in cfg.php
However, it may fail too. Because you can be just wrong about these paths
And here goes your main problem:
but it does not work
There is no such thing as "it does not work"
There is always a comprehensive error message that tells you what exactly doesn't work and what it does instead. You didn't read it yourself, and you didn't post it here to let us show you a correct path out of these error messages.
include files should generally be kept outside of the server root.
lets say your setup is;
www/website1
and
www/includes
Then you php.ini file, or .htaccess file should stipulate that
include_path=www/includes
then from any of your files, in any directory, no matter how far down the trees they go you simply do:
include 'myfile.php';
where myfile.php is at www/includes/myfile.php
Then you can stop worrying about these issues
include dirname(__FILE__).'/../folder2/header.php';
Try This it is work in my case
<?php require_once __DIR__."/../filename.php";?>
As the PHP manual states here $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] is "The document root directory under which the current script is executing, as defined in the server's configuration file." For this example, $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] will work just fine but. . . By using the new "magic constants" provided in >= PHP 5.3, we can make this code a little safer.
Put your includes in a subfolder, and use the magic constant DIR to make a reference to the included files. DIR returns the directory of the currently executing php file. By using this, you can move your folder containing all your includes anywhere you like in your directory structure, and not need to worry if your includes will still work.
i have two files:(localhost/template/)
index.php
template.php
each time when i create an article(an article system is what i'm trying to do),i create a folder and then i copy the index.php in that folder. I want to include template php in index.php but as a static url('cause the articles will be like a folder-subfolder/subfolder/.. structure )
i tried: include('localhost/template/template.php') with no result. how should i include it? thanks
The include method works on the file system path, not the "url path". Solution is to either
Give it an absolute path.
-- include('/some/path/to/template.php');
Change the relative path so it is correct after each copy you create.
-- include('../../template.php');
Change the include path of PHP so that the file is in, well, the include path.
-- Can be done either in the php.ini file, in the .htaccess file or with the set_include_path function. (Depending on how much you want to set it for, and what you have permission for)
You could include it relative to the current directory, like so:
require_once(dirname(__FILE__) . '/template.php');
dirname(FILE) will translate to the directory of the current script (index.php) and the line above will append '/template.php' resulting in the full path to the template.php side-by-side to the index.php file.
I find it best to include files this way vs without a full path to avoid issues with the PHP search path, for example. It's very explicit this way.
UPDATE: I misunderstood the original question. It sounds like template.php isn't copied, only index.php is. So you'll have something that could be like:
template/template.php
template/index.php (just a template)
foo/bar/index.php
foo/bar2/index.php
Since people can hit the foo/bar/index.php for example without funneling through a central script, you'll have to somehow find the template no matter where you are.
You can do this by setting the PHP include_path, for example through a .htaccess on a Apache server:
php_value include_path ".:/home/<snip>/template"
Then in each index.php you can include template.php and it'll search the current directory first, then try your template directory.
You could also compute the relative path when copying the script and put an include in there with the proper number of '..' to get out (e.g. '../../template/template.php'). It's kinda fragile, though.
You don't want the "localhost" in there. Includes work using the actual path on your server.
So you can either use relative ones such as posted above, or absolute in terms of server so this could be "/opt/www/" on linux or "c:\Program Files\Apache\htdocs" on windows. This will be different from system to system so to find out yours use the dirname(__FILE__) technique shown by wojo.
If you're trying to include the file as an url, you'll need to start it with http:// and have allow_url_include set to true in PHP settings. This is highly discouraged as it opens doors for security breaches.
Instead, you should either add localhost/template to your include path or use relative urls like include('../template.php').
The path looks wrong, you should include it with a path relative to where the calling file is, e.g. include('template/template.php'); or include('../template/template.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".