Is INCLUDEd HTML text read as PHP or plain HTML?

SwissMac

If I use INCLUDE to read in plain html text from a .inc file, is this text treated as PHP or as HTML when read by the calling PHP file? In other words, how and when does PHP execute the line of code?

Does the fact that the text comes from another file as an INCLUDE mean it is not processed by PHP, but merely output as is into the html document being created line by line?

So, does PHP treat the INCLUDE command like a cut and paste operation where the included file contents becomes part of the PHP, or does PHP just cut and paste the included file contents into the HTML output directly?

TIA

________

If there is any PHP programming in the file that you include, it will run the script in the file!

Eg.:

main.php

<?php
include("include.php");
echo $a;
?>

include.php

<?php
$b = 1;
$c = 4;
$a = $b + 4c;
?>

That script will output:
5

tuf-web_co_uk

take in mind that although it might be php code being included into another php script, the php tags must still be place in the included file otherwise

main.php

<?php
include("include.php");
echo $a;
?>

include.php

$b = 1;
$c = 4;
$a = $b + 4c;

main.php would show

$b = 1;
$c = 4;
$a = $b + 4c;

SwissMac

What about this...

main.php

<?php
$a = "some text";
include("header.inc");
echo $a;
include("footer.inc");
?>

header.inc

<html>
<head><title>information</title></head>
<body>
<table>
<tr>
<td align="top">

footer.inc

</td>
</tr>
</table>
</body>
</html>

Question 1

Should line 6 of header.inc have commented out quote marks, or is it OK as it is?

Question 2

Should the included files start and end with <?php and ?> tags, or can they be left as "pure" text?

Question 3

Do you have a better solution?

I appreciate your ideas and help - it may be basic but it is a confusing point, crucial to an understanding of how php works, and I just don't get it!

Weedpacket

[man]include[/man]
When a file is included, parsing drops out of PHP mode and into HTML mode at the beginning of the target file, and resumes again at the end. For this reason, any code inside the target file which should be executed as PHP code must be enclosed within valid PHP start and end tags.

Pretty simple, I'd have thought.

Your example would have exactly the same result as this:

<?php
$a = "some text";
?><html>
<head><title>information</title></head>
<body>
<table>
<tr>
<td align="top"><?php
echo $a;
?></td>
</tr>
</table>
</body>
</html> <?php
?>

psolus21

Nothing is parsed by php unelss it exists in <? ?> and yes, that includes the contents of included files...
So there's nothing special you have to do to html in included files.

SwissMac

Thanks guys, it's finally penetrated! It does help if you know where to look for the easy text description, and to be fair, there is a lot of quite techy stuff on that page you pointed to, and that's if you can find out how to get there - I didn't... 🙁

But it really was very helpful, so I applaud you both. Thanks!

Mac