I'm using a simple pre-made authorisation tool to secure my site. The tool requires this line of code to be applied to the top of every .php page. Auth.php lives on the root level.
<?php ${(require_once('Auth.php'))}->protectme(); ?>
I need to be able to add this line of code to every file, including files in sub-folders. But I'm unsure of how to apply the method as shown in require_once in php to ensure it always is linked absolutely, alongside the protectme(); function.
Any enlightenment is appreciated.
Cheers.
Set a variable to the absolute path. $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] is a PHP global variable that stores the servers, root path. You just need to insert the rest of the path information to the script. For instance if your website exists on /var/www/ and your script exists at /var/www/scripts you would do the following.
$path = $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . '/scripts/Auth.php';
require_once($path);
You can use a relative path to get to it.
One level up: ../Auth.php
Two levels up: ../../Auth.php
etc.
You should alter your php.ini to change the include path to the the path to that (all all your other) included files. Then you can include them without a path on every page regardless of their own location.
More Details
Add the root level directory to your include_path - PHP will do the rest for you. No complicated variables, constants or whatever.
In addition to everything that has been said already, I suggest centralizing all common functionality. Create a file, like common.php with all includes that you need for you application and then include that from all your scripts.
Also, a nice way to do relative includes is by using dirname() function in combination with __FILE__ magic constant. For example:
require_once dirname(__FILE__) . '/../lib/common.php';
If you do not have access to php.ini, I've used something like this before
include $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT']."/"."include_me.php";
The easiest way since it's a site wide change is to add its directory first in the include path in php.ini.
If you can't change php.ini, there are a few other options for adding it to the include path.
Related
I'm having problems with my include files. I don't seem to be able to figure out how to construct my URLs when I use require_once('somefile.php'). If I try to use an include file in more than one place where the directory structures are different, I get an error that the include file cannot be found.
In asp.net, to get my application root path, I can use ~/directory/file.aspx. The tild forward slash always knows that I am referencing from my website root and find the file no matter where the request comes from within my website. It always refers back to the root and looks for the file from there.
QUESTION: How can I get the root path of my site? How can I do this so I can reuse my include files from anywhere within my site? Do I have to use absolute paths in my URLs?
Thank you!
There is $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] that should have the root path to your web server.
Edit: If you look at most major php programs. When using the installer, you usually enter in the full path to the the application folder. The installer will just put that in a config file that is included in the entire application. One option is to use an auto prepend file to set the variable. another option is to just include_once() the config file on every page you need it. Last option I would suggest is to write you application using bootstrapping which is where you funnel all requests through one file (usually with url_rewrite). This allows you to easily set/include config variables in one spot and have them be available throughout all the scripts.
I usually store config.php file in ROOT directory, and in config.php I write:
define('ROOT_DIR', __DIR__);
And then just use ROOT_DIR constant in all other scripts.
Using $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] is not very good because:
It's not always matching ROOT_DIR
This variable is not available in CGI mode (e.x. if you run your scripts by CRON)
It's nice to be able to use the same code at the top of every script and know that your page will load properly, even if you are in a subdirectory. I use this, which relies on you knowing what your root directory is called (typically, 'htdocs' or 'public_html':
defined('SITEROOT') or define('SITEROOT', substr($_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'], 0, strrpos($_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'], 'public_html')) . 'public_html');
With SITEROOT defined consistently, you can then access a config file and/or page components without adapting paths on a script-by-script basis e.g. to a config file stored outside your root folder:
require_once SITEROOT . "/../config.php";
You should use the built in magic constants to find files. __FILE__ and __DIR__. If you are on PHP < 5.3 you should use dirname(__FILE__)
E.g.
require_once __DIR__.'/../../include_me.php';
$_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] is not always guaranteed to return what you would expect.
Define it in a config file somewhere.
Assuming you're using an MVC style where everything gets routed through a single index.php then
realpath('.');
Will show you the path to the current working directory (i.e where index.php is)
So then you can define this as
define('PROJECT_ROOT', realpath('.'));
If it's not MVC and you need it to work for files in subfolders then you can just hard code it in a config file
define('PROJECT_ROOT', 'C:/wamp/www/mysite');
Then when including something you can do;
include PROJECT_ROOT . '/path/to/include.php';
You could alternativly set the base directory in your .htaccess file
SetEnv BASE_PATH C:/wamp/www/mysite/
Then in PHP you can reference it with $_SERVER['BASE_PATH']
Try this:
$_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT']
I'm doing a little home computing project in PHP and am creating references like this...
Beer
This seems to pick up the right file. When I do includes, I seem to need a pathname.
include_once ("/var/www/common.php");
I'm sure this can't be right. Perhaps you could tell me what is the best practice for these things so that I can create scripts that aren't tied to a particular pathname (or operating system, come to that) and so that the file selected in the first example is known/can be controlled? Perhaps some settings in php.ini or apache?
Thank you.
You may use relative paths in PHP, too:
include_once './common.php';
This path now is relative to the script, which was intitially called.
If you leave out the dot
include_once 'common.php';
PHP will check all the paths in you include_path and if it doesn't find a file called common.php there, it will try to include common.php relative to the current file.
Many people have the practice of definining a constant like ROOT in the index.php which is used everywere else:
const ROOT = __DIR__; // as of PHP 5.3
define('ROOT', dirname(__FILE__)); // if you don't have PHP 5.3
Actually, you need an absolute path for both.
for the web resources it should start from the web root - /
for the files you need a point where virtual path meets a filesystem one.
$_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] is for that purpose.
so
Beer
and
include_once ($_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT']."/common.php");
will work as desired
You can:
Use relative pathnames. The paths should be relative to the directory where the script that is initially executed (unless the directory has been changed explicitly by the script).
Use $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'].
The php ini file setting
include_path = var/www/includes
Means that you just forget all that crap about relative and absolute paths.
It matters not a wit where you call include/require.
Even in say:
/var/www/html/example.com/very/long/way/down/index.php
can contain the line;
include 'settings.php' ;
and if settings.php is in /var/www/includes/ then it will be included.
You can override the ini setting in a various places in apache too, even in .htaccess
This of course ties your application to your server settings, which some find unacceptable, but if you are not distributing your stuff, then read up on ini_get and ini_set too.
You can then go on and create natural directories in your include folder, such as /database and keep database settings in there too.
in my config.php where i have all constants i set the PATH to a absolute path.
but this means that when i move my application folder i have to change this path.
i wondered if its better to set a relative path, in that way whenever i move my application between production and development folder, i dont have to change it.
how do you guys do when you move between folders?
The best way I've found is to do the following:
define("PATH", realpath(dirname(__FILE__)));
That gives you the directory of the current file. If you do this in your settings/bootstrap/init file, you'll have it available to your application, and it will work for any file system.
__FILE__ is your friend.
define('BASE_PATH', dirname(realpath(__FILE__)));
This will make your scripts more portable.
Include a file like this
include BASE_PATH . 'includes/header.php';
IMO, absolute paths are bad news. Even if you don't plan to move, your hosting provider could move you, like DreamHost recently did to me. I was fine....
But there are 14 references to "path" on their wiki:
http://wiki.dreamhost.com/Server_Moves
I do three things to solve this:
The first is to use paths relative to the current file and include things using dirname(__FILE__).
The second is to use a loader include that all the pages load. This file has one responsibility: to find the include directory, usually via a relative call. So long as this relative relationship stays, it doesn't need changing.
I also like to support custom settings that belong to the installation rather than the codebase. This is done by an include mechanism and overrides a few settings that will be specific for the server the code is on.
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".