Specifying Relative path

[Live24x7]

This should be easy for PHP masters and i am really struggling with it.

My question: How do you specify the relative path for include or require functions

For example, if my directory hierarchy is like this:

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root
  |--dirA
        |--- design
                  | ---- header.php
  | ---- dirB
            | ---- dirc
 

How do is specify the relative paths for include and require functions to access:

a) header.php from root
b) header.php from dir b
c) header.php from dir c

I somewhere read that you need to specify some path in php.ini. I really dont want to do all that and really hope that PHP has simpler method for specifying paths.

Thanks a lot !

[requinix]

The trick is to not use relative paths. It looks like they are but they really aren't.

Using (c) as an example,

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// always relative to the root directory
include $_SERVER["DOCUMENT_ROOT"] . "/dirA/design/header.php";

// relative to the directory containing the current file
include __DIR__ . "/../../dirA/design/header.php"; // PHP 5.3+
include dirname(__FILE__) . "/../../dirA/design/header.php";

The first one is the best because you never have to think about traversing directories upwards - like how many /../s you need to include. It's also much more readable.

The include_path is an option but IMO it's a lot easier to do it in the code. Lots less guesswork.

[Live24x7]

thanks.. great insight..got me working with the include and require paths.

However i am now stuck in handiling the CSS file reference within the header.php

The php code

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<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href= "<?php echo dirname(__FILE__) . '\default.css';?>"

yields an output that specifies the file path on the hard disk C:\

<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href= "C:\wamp\www\psytest\design\default.css">

where as it is requred to resolve to localhost://testsite/design/default.css or tho the http protocol on a live site.

How is this achieved ?

Thanks for your previous reply.

[requinix]

Apples and oranges.

The best option is to use absolute paths all the time.

Code: Select all

<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/default.css" />

[Live24x7]

Thanks..