PHP - Using a function outside the file it has been created in - php

Question

I have 3 php files. The first (connexion.php) one contains a function I use to create a new PDO connexion:
<?php
header('Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8');
date_default_timezone_set('Europe/Paris');
function connexion($host, $user, $pass, $db){
$db_host = $host;
$db_user = $user;
$db_password = $pass;
$db_database = $db;
return $connexion = new PDO("mysql:host=$db_host;dbname=$db_database;charset=utf8", $db_user, $db_password);
}
?>
The second file (my_function.php) contains a function that contains only one function that connects to a db and then is echoing some information.
<?php
include(connexion.php);
function my_first_function(){
try{
$connexion = connexion('localhost', 'user', 'user', 'mydb');
$connexion->setAttribute(PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE, PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION);
//some code that echoes information
}
catch(...){...}
}
?>
My problem is when I try to include that last file into my third php script in order to be abble to use the function. The script is not even launching. I just have 'internal error'. If I remove the include(my_function.php) my file is loaded properly. I don't get it. Hope someone can help me understand. Thanks in advance. Cheers. Marc. Here below the third file:
<?php
include('connexion.php');
include('my_function.php');
//some code
my_first_function();
?>

Answer 1

You should not use include('connexion.php'); in the third file as it will also be included already automatically when you do include('my_function.php');
As it contains a function declaration, that will lead to an error because that function has already been declared.

Answer 2

"Internal error" is not a PHP thing, you may want to check your .htaccess or other apache settings.

Answer 3

If you are trying to include the file more than once, you will get errors because PHP won't allow you to redeclare a function with the same name. To get around that, use:
include_once("my_include_file.php");

Answer 4

You are either not providing the relative path to the include file or your include file has an error inside it. To test this, try the following code..
if( file_exists('the_file_where_the_function_is.php') )
{
echo "Found the file";
} else {
echo "File not found";
}
If it finds the file, then you most likely have a syntax error in the included file. Also I am guessing you are using IE and getting an "Internal Server Error" ??? If so go into your preferences for IE and turn off friendly error messages to see the actual PHP error.