includes

Gasolene

I have multiple libraries that I need to include, some of the libraries depend on each other.

if I hav a file called "foo.php" and I include a file in another directory, ie: include_once('libraries/bar.php'). I also have an include in that file, however the include in "bar.php" seems to be relitive to foo.php.

...and since I have many files from diff directories including bar.php, I am forced to use absolute paths (which I hate using).

is there a way around this. I am a C programmer and the include in C is always relitive to the that file.

ex:

/foo.php

include_once('libs/bar.php');

/somedir/fooooo.php

include_once('../libs/bar.php');

/libs/bar.php

include_once('anotherlib.php');

/libs/anotherlib.php

'bar.php' does not include 'anotherlib.php' unless I use absolute path even though they are in the same dir.

sarahk

...and since I have many files from diff directories including bar.php, I am forced to use absolute paths (which I hate using).

Absolute paths are the way to. Why do you hate them?

the only issues with them are if the server changes etc. So to get around that I have a paths.php file which I call and from there I get all my path type info.

The rub - to call paths I have to know where it is so I might have a couple of copies of it around the place to make it easier to find. It's still easier to maintain that (from a single source file) than to rework all those files.

Anybody have a different way of tackling this? Weedpacket?

jesus_hairdo

Have you checked the include_path directive in your php.ini file.?

I would hazard a guess that to use relative paths you would need the directory "." in the include_path.

I have a 'include_path = ".:/var/www/includes"' as my path statement and relative includes certainly work for me!.

sarahk

Hi jesus_hairdo

I don't think Gasolene has a problem getting relative paths to work, it's just that they are relative to the initial script and not the script which is making the include statement.

Because the location of that initial script changes the relative path that is required also changes.

Gasolene - another solution is to include all the files, all the time, and manage this centrally through a common script. I call the same header file on all my pages. What is presented differs (because it's a script) and I manage my hitcounters, common code, global variables through this script also. When something has to change I know where to look and I only do it once.

Gasolene

thnx for responces,

I'v basically done that, I have one common file that includes all other files using absolute paths.

I'm not crazy about including headers that I don't need but i would rather that than have multiple absolute includes in every file.

It also seems strange to have 2 lib files where one requires the other, and not have it include the other.

I change/rename dirs frequently and sometimes switch servers so absolute paths are very annoying.

maybe i'll just put every file in one big dir for simplicity (joke)

Weedpacket

You could consider using changing the include_path (either in php.ini, .htaccess, httpd.conf or with the ini_set()) function. And/Or, use some of the information in the $_SERVER[] array to construct the appropriate absolute paths at runtime.