Problem getting PHP include working with files in different folders

Question

I'm a total PHP noob and am using a pretty simple PHP include:

<?php include("~head.php"); ?>

to do a bit of templating for a website (to achieve common headers, footers, menus for all my pages).

NOTE: The tilde (~) is simply there to make the directories easier to look at (pushes main files to the top of the list when sorted alphabetically)

It's working great for files that are in the same directory but when I reference a file outside of a directory, like so:

<?php include("../~head.php"); ?>

However, it simply doesn't seem to be finding the file as the header is clearly not being pulled into the markup.

Conversely, if I reference the file with a full url, e.g.

<?php include("http://example.com/~head.php"); ?>

I get the following error code on my page.

Warning: include() [function.include]: URL file-access is disabled in the server configuration in /home/content/65/7392565/html/bikini/angela_bikini.php on line 1

Warning: include(http://example.com/~head.php) [function.include]: failed to open stream: no suitable wrapper could be found in /home/content/65/7392565/html/products/product_a.php on line 1

Warning: include() [function.include]: Failed opening 'http://example.com/~head.php' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/local/php5/lib/php') in /home/content/65/7392565/html/products/product_a.php on line 1

Strangely, the "../file.php" syntax works for non-header files (e.g. the include I'm using for the menu).

As such code's gotten to be a bit of a fragmented mess and is difficult to maintain changes across all the different pages. Any thoughts or solutions would be very much appreciated. I really am a noob tho so I probably won't be able to wrap my head around anything too fancy. : )

Thanks for your time.

Jon

I just wanted to say, don't use ~ as it has special meaning in linux. ~username will always reference the homedirectory of a user. If you do feel the need to 'sort' files like this, use an underscore instead; but better directory organization is even better ;) — Evert
– Evert, Commented Jun 19, 2011 at 12:03

Michael Berkowski · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-19 12:30:49Z

7

Rather than using only the ../ to get the directory above, a construct like this will create the full filepath:

// Assuming you are including from the root
$application_path = dirname(__FILE__);
include("$application_path/../header.php);

Typically I'll do this by defining a constant, rather than using a variable.

define('APP_PATH', dirname(__FILE__));

Use this as:

// Assuming you are including at the file root:
define('APP_PATH', dirname(__FILE__));
include(APP_PATH . "/include/head.php");

// Assuming you are including from /include (one directory in)
// append a "/../" onto the end to indicate that the application
// root is one directory up from the currently executing file.
define('APP_PATH', dirname(__FILE__) . "/../");
include(APP_PATH . "somefile_at_the_root.php");

edited Jun 19, 2011 at 12:30

answered Jun 19, 2011 at 12:10

Michael Berkowski

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5 Comments

jon Over a year ago

@michael - Thanks! So I'm confused about the "APP_PATH" and "FILE" is that a placeholder or the literal code I'm supposed to use? if it's not literal, could you give me an example of what some actual code would look like (e.g. "example.com" or whatnot)?

Michael Berkowski Over a year ago

@jon No, those are constants. __FILE__ is a magic constant which holds the full file path and name of the currently executing file. php.net/manual/en/language.constants.predefined.php

Michael Berkowski Over a year ago

@jon And the APP_PATH constant was defined as the directory in which the file resides.

jon Over a year ago

@michael ok killer! so then how does define('APP_PATH', dirname(__FILE__)); fit in with my include <?php include("../~head.php"); ?> ?

Michael Berkowski Over a year ago

@jon as others have said, you probably shouldn't use the tilde. Replace it with an underscore.

Pit · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-19 12:04:29Z

4

You have to be careful with the tilde! Under UNIX-like operating systems, the tilde is a shortcut to your home directory. If maybe the Apache server runs under the account www, your file-reference could be interpreted like this:

/home/www/head.php

And for the approach of using the full URL, the error says all:

URL file-access is disabled in the server configuration

Ignoring that it isn't best practice to use full URLs (because your folder structure could change etc.), you have to enable allow_url_include in your php.ini (see PHP.net).

If you really want to have your important files on top, you could use the underscore _.

answered Jun 19, 2011 at 12:04

Pit

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2 Comments

jon Over a year ago

neat. thanks for the tip. a bit confused about the allow_url_include thing. and i'm totally with you about the absolute urls thing, i'd much prefer to avoid that. is there a way to do so?

Pit Over a year ago

Just do it the way you did in your post: Use relative paths with ../. If you rename your ~head.php file to for example _head.php, include('../_head.php'); should work without flaws.

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