file() used with file in other directory

[mrgrammar]

I am using a file() function in my file rotator.php to read rotate1.txt to get a list of files to include on rotator.php.

As long as I put the actual path/file in the function file(), everything works just fine.

However, I have the filename rotate1.txt assigned to a variable because I use it in several other places on the page. When I use a variable in file(), it gives me this error:

file(rotator/rotate1.txt ): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /usr/local/etc/httpd/htdocs/politicalcafeorg/rotator.php on line 161

The code I am using is:

$contfile = "rotator/".$rotid;
$lines = file($contfile);
$listsize = count($lines);
$listnames = array();
$listct = 1;
foreach ($lines as $line_num => $line) {
	$listnames[$listct] = $line;
	echo $listnames[$listct]."<br>";
	$listct = $listct + 1;
	if ($listct > $listsize){$listct = 1;}

if($filename == ""){
	$fnumber = rand(1,$listsize);
}elseif ($filename == $line){
   	$fnumber = $listct;
}
if ($fnumber > $listsize){
	$fnumber = 1;
}

}

What am I doing wrong, and how do I fix it?

Brian

[rehfeld]

your problem is likely due to using relative file paths

if you goto

example.org/index.php

your script would look for the file here

doc_root/rotator/rotate1.txt

now if you goto

example.org/somedir/index.php

your script would look for the file here

doc_root/somedir/rotator/rotate1.txt

ad it prob doesnt exist there....

in your case, when you got that error, this is where php was looking for the file

/usr/local/etc/httpd/htdocs/politicalcafeorg/rotator/rotate1.txt

you could use an absolute file path instead

$contfile = $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . "/rotator/".$rotid; 

that way the location of the file will not depend on where your running the code from