php include html file?

Question

I just need to include an html file (that has my navigation bars for all my pages).

I've tried: <?php htmlentities(file_get_contents("include/navigation.html")); ?>

But nothing shows up at all.

I've checked other questions like this and the code above is always the answer. So why is it not working for me?

Here's my navigation file if needed:

<!-- Navigation -->
<nav class="navbar navbar-inverse navbar-fixed-top" role="navigation">
    <div class="container">
        <!-- Brand and toggle get grouped for better mobile display -->
        <div class="navbar-header">
            <button type="button" class="navbar-toggle" data-toggle="collapse" data-target="#bs-example-navbar-collapse-1">
                <span class="sr-only">Toggle navigation</span>
                <span class="icon-bar"></span>
                <span class="icon-bar"></span>
                <span class="icon-bar"></span>
            </button>
            <a class="navbar-brand" href="index.html">[ ] Advanced Web Development</a>
        </div>
        <!-- Collect the nav links, forms, and other content for toggling -->
        <div class="collapse navbar-collapse" id="bs-example-navbar-collapse-1">
            <ul class="nav navbar-nav navbar-right">
                <li class="active">
                    <a href="index.html">Home</a>
                </li>
                <li>
                    <a href="#about">About</a>
                </li>
                <li>
                    <a href="#resume">Résume</a>
                </li>
                <li>
                    <a href="#blog">Blog</a>
                </li>
                <li>
                    <a href="#projects">Projects</a>
                </li>
                <li>
                    <a href="#blog">Contact</a>
                </li>
                <!--
                <li class="dropdown">
                    <a href="#" class="dropdown-toggle" data-toggle="dropdown">Portfolio <b class="caret"></b></a>
                    <ul class="dropdown-menu">
                        <li>
                            <a href="portfolio-1-col.html">1 Column Portfolio</a>
                        </li>
                        <li>
                            <a href="portfolio-2-col.html">2 Column Portfolio</a>
                        </li>
                        <li>
                            <a href="portfolio-3-col.html">3 Column Portfolio</a>
                        </li>
                        <li>
                            <a href="portfolio-4-col.html">4 Column Portfolio</a>
                        </li>
                        <li>
                            <a href="portfolio-item.html">Single Portfolio Item</a>
                        </li>
                    </ul>
                </li>
                <li class="dropdown">
                    <a href="#" class="dropdown-toggle" data-toggle="dropdown">Blog <b class="caret"></b></a>
                    <ul class="dropdown-menu">
                        <li>
                            <a href="blog-home-1.html">Blog Home 1</a>
                        </li>
                        <li>
                            <a href="blog-home-2.html">Blog Home 2</a>
                        </li>
                        <li>
                            <a href="blog-post.html">Blog Post</a>
                        </li>
                    </ul>
                </li>
                <li class="dropdown">
                    <a href="#" class="dropdown-toggle" data-toggle="dropdown">Other Pages <b class="caret"></b></a>
                    <ul class="dropdown-menu">
                        <li>
                            <a href="full-width.html">Full Width Page</a>
                        </li>
                        <li>
                            <a href="sidebar.html">Sidebar Page</a>
                        </li>
                        <li>
                            <a href="faq.html">FAQ</a>
                        </li>
                        <li>
                            <a href="404.html">404</a>
                        </li>
                        <li>
                            <a href="pricing.html">Pricing Table</a>
                        </li>
                    </ul>
                </li>
            -->
            </ul>
        </div>
        <!-- /.navbar-collapse -->
    </div>
    <!-- /.container -->
</nav>

Is there a reason you can't just include 'include/navigation.html';? — David
– David, Commented Mar 12, 2015 at 2:15
why don't save it as php and then <?php include 'nav.php'; ?> — winresh24
– winresh24, Commented Mar 12, 2015 at 2:16
Was there an error or warning of some kind? If include (or, more strictly, require) fails then there would be something in the logs. If the code isn't executing at all then that's a completely different problem. — David
– David, Commented Mar 12, 2015 at 2:16
let me guess you're not doing it in local host like wamp or xamp — winresh24
– winresh24, Commented Mar 12, 2015 at 2:18

Bryan Agee · Accepted Answer · 2015-03-12 02:29:20Z

1

In your above example, php is creating a string from the file, but doing nothing with it. In order to make your code work, you would need to add an echo:

<?php echo htmlentities(file_get_contents("include/navigation.html"));

This is because there are generally three ways that functions can affect things:

Returning a value (what htmlentities does)
Modifying (a) value(s) passed into them (take a look at passing by reference
Echoing something directly or to the output buffer

Since htmlentities returns a value, nothing is sent to output. You would have to either save it to a variable for output later, or echo/print it to the output now.

Alternatively, you could include it as suggested by @David.

edited Mar 12, 2015 at 2:29

answered Mar 12, 2015 at 2:19

Bryan Agee

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1 Comment

rfoo Over a year ago

You should touch on the fact that htmlentities() is a return function so it must be assigned to a variable or echoed in order to be used.

Travis · Accepted Answer · 2015-03-14 14:30:00Z

1

While using the echo on your normal code would be sufficent, if you want people to be able to access the HTML, you can include it in a php file itself, anywhere except inside the <?php ?> tag.

edited Mar 14, 2015 at 14:30

answered Mar 12, 2015 at 2:18

Travis

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Comments

Patrick Moore · Accepted Answer · 2015-03-12 02:17:18Z

0

htmlentities() does not output to the browser. You still need to echo() or otherwise output.

<?php echo htmlentities(file_get_contents("include/navigation.html")); ?>

Or as suggested in the comments use include() to embed the entire file. PHP will attempt to process the file, so make sure it is error free if it contains any PHP code.

<?php include( "include/navigation.html" ); ?>

answered Mar 12, 2015 at 2:17

Patrick Moore

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Comments

Supremacy2k · Accepted Answer · 2015-03-12 02:19:01Z

0

try:

<?php
    $file = htmlentities(file_get_contents("include/navigation.html"));
    echo $file;
?>

answered Mar 12, 2015 at 2:19

Supremacy2k

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