php include path issue

Question

Although this has been asked a thousand times I still managed to screw things up and not find an answer that serves my issue..

I have 2 files

C:\xampp\htdocs\MF\Pages\ads.php
C:\xampp\htdocs\MF\Pages\ads_view.php

I wanna include ads_view from ads what I do is

echo __DIR__;
var_dump(file_exists('ads_view.php'));

and what I get is

C:\xampp\htdocs\MF\Pages
bool(false)

Why can't I include this file when __DIR__ clearly states i'm in the parent folder? ads.php is also included from another file, if that makes any difference?

meda · Accepted Answer · 2013-07-13 19:25:18Z

1

Please put the full path it should work

var_dump(file_exists('C:\xampp\htdocs\MF\Pages\ads_view.php'));

see documentation for file_exists

answered Jul 13, 2013 at 19:25

meda

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Comments

Rik · Accepted Answer · 2013-07-13 19:52:03Z

1

You can also use the DOCUMENT_ROOT variable in $_SERVER for portability.

var_dump(file_exists($_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . '\MF\Pages\ads_view.php'));

and

include $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . '\MF\Pages\ads_view.php';

answered Jul 13, 2013 at 19:52

Rik

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4 Comments

php_nub_qq Over a year ago

It's actually weird because include works just well with relative paths but file_exists doesn't >.<

Rik Over a year ago

Thats because, like meda said, fil_exists expects a complete path to a file while include also works with current directory and relative paths (like ../../ etc.). But i like to use document_root so i can copy the code to other files in other directories without changing the path. A "c:\path..." etc. would work too but if i copy the code to another site it would stop working.

php_nub_qq Over a year ago

you can simply use __DIR__ instead of document root

Rik Over a year ago

@php_nub_qq: You are right for just file_exists. Then its simpler to use __DIR__. But for an include, especially outside your own directory i would still use document_root and not a hard-coded path.

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