INCLUDE vs REQUIRE

[fahad]

Can somebody tell me the difference between including a file and requiring a file? I'll be veryy thankful to you.

[junebug]

require will only insert the file once. include will include it as many times as you call it. although there are issues with this.

[[deleted]]

include includes the file whenever the include() command occurs in the sourcecode. if it occurs 15 times, the file is included 15 times.

require ALLWAYS includes the file, even if that line of the script is never executed, like this

if (false)
{
require('that.php');
};

that.php will still be included.

[Anon]

If you include a file your scipt can continue along the script but require will halt the script.

remember when including file make sure that your function calls are not repeated

[reagent]

"If you include a file your scipt can continue along the script but require will halt the script."

This is false, exit or die will halt the script, include or require does not have this behavior unless one of the included or required files stops execution.

Vincent was correct when he stated that an include() statement only inserts the file into your script when it reaches the statement, while require() will go through and do a 1 to 1 replacement wherever it finds this line, regardless if the code is actually reached in the script.

"remember when including file make sure that your function calls are not repeated"

This is misleading. I think you mean 'function definitions', which will most certainly cause parse errors. An easy way around this is to use require_once() or include_once() in newer versions of php, or use a block of define() and defined() statements

p.

[[deleted]]

"If you include a file your scipt can continue along the script but require will halt the script."

This is false, exit or die will halt the script, include or require does not have this
behavior unless one of the included or required files stops execution.

Actually it's true.
Require() will stop your script if the file that you want to include doesn't exist. Include() will give an error but not stop the script.

[Anon]

You are right.
Thats not What I meant but I did explain it wrong. That for clearing that up.

Sorry fahad

[reagent]

Interesting. thanks for clearing that up..

guess i should RTFM again! 🙂

p.