confused about paths...

[pck76]

Hi all,

I have the following directory structure:

|--index.php
|--connection_parameters.php
|--Includes
|--|--functions.inc.php

index requires functions.inc.php, which in turn requires connection_parameters.php (which is in the root)

the only functions.inc.php works is the following:

function connect_to_db() {

require_once('connection_parameters.php');

(other code here...)

now I have two questions:
1) i would expect the last include to be relative to the file that is calling it.. so shouldn't it be require_once('../connection_parameters.php');
2) I would like to make this relative to the root, butrequire_once('/connection_parameters.php');
(with slash at the beginning, that should point to the root) doesn't work.

can you explain to me why this is happening, please?

thanks
p.

[NogDog]

When script "dir/foo.php" includes script "dir/sub/bar.php", any code in bar.php is still being executed from within directory "dir/" (not directory "dir/sub/"). In other words, the included script runs from the calling script's directory (assuming no chdir() has been executed).

If it's ambiguous as to from what directory a file might be executed, you may want to either reference files from within it via absolute paths such as $SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'].'/dir/config.php', or else by defining an include_path setting and including files relative to that directory:

<?php
set_include_path($_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'].'/dir/' . PATH_SEPARATOR . get_include_path());
include 'config.php';
include 'sub/bar.php';

[pck76]

what should I do to include a file which is outside the root folder (eg, in my case, the connection parameters for the db?)
I understand I should do this for security reasons?

[NogDog]

One way:

include $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . '/../includes/file.php';

[pck76]

Thanks NogDog!