PHP file_get_contents with a php file

Question

I'm using file_get_contents() to merge a template and separate content and output them together as a page.

The problem I'm having is that if either of these files have a PHP statement,

<?php
    echo "example";
?>

The PHP isn't actually run, and the statement just seems to be part of the markup:

enter image description here

I thought at first that the PHP at the file I'm loading wouldn't be run first, but then I made a test page with the following:

<?php
    echo file_get_contents("http://stackoverflow.com");
?>

And uploaded it here to see that it works fine (processes the PHP first).

Should I be using a different function maybe?

your probably mean file function php.net/manual/en/function.file.php — blejzz
– blejzz, Commented Oct 30, 2011 at 21:04
possible duplicate of Problem when loading php file into variable (Load result of php code instead of the code as a string) - this is merely the same question, you might find some more useful tips in it's various answers. — hakre
– hakre, Commented Oct 31, 2011 at 10:25

Leonid Shevtsov · Accepted Answer · 2011-10-30 21:31:05Z

4

You just need to include() the PHP file.

Be wary of the security concerns.

If you want to capture the file's output, use output buffering.

edited Oct 30, 2011 at 21:31

user212218

answered Oct 30, 2011 at 21:05

Leonid Shevtsov

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4 Comments

Marty Over a year ago

Thanks for the suggestion, but I'm more leaning towards an answer that explains why this function won't process the PHP in the file I'm loading first when it's local.

Leonid Shevtsov Over a year ago

@MartyWallace, it's not meant to process it. file_get_contents reads the script as a plain text file and doesn't do any additional processing. You could do an eval(file_get_contents()), but that's just a backwards way of saying include().

Marty Over a year ago

I see, but you can't append the result of include() to a string can you? There are a few things I do to the file I've loaded such as replacing some strings with preg_match_all(), etc.

user212218 Over a year ago

@MartyWallace Use output buffering to capture the output from the included script, and then append the result to the string.

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