PHP include paths within directories

Question

I have looked around at a few different questions about the same sort of problem I'm having. I have took a solution and adapted it to my own project.

Here is my directory structure.

/css
    -style.css
/includes
    -shop.css
    -header.php
    -footer.php
/php
/js
/shop
    -index.php

-index.php <-- homepage
-config.php

Inside my config.php I have

define('ROOT_PATH',$_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT']);

My header.php

<?php include './config.php';?>
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <?php echo '<link href="'.ROOT_PATH.'/css/style.css" rel="stylesheet">';?>
  <?php if ($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'] == '/shop/'){echo '<link href="'.ROOT_PATH.'/includes/shop.css" rel="stylesheet">';} ?>
</head>

The only problem is, for any other page other than the root index.php file, the path for the config.php file becomes incorrect. Thus the CSS paths then become incorrect as ROOT_PATH isn't defined anywhere.

What would be the best way to handle paths when using includes?

Utkarsh Dixit · Accepted Answer · 2014-08-22 02:04:03Z

1

Use $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'].$_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] gets the document root for eg var/com/images. $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] will get current url like http://example.com/images.TYour code should look like this

define('ROOT_PATH',$_SERVER['HTTP_HOST']);

And include this way

<?php include'../config.php';

Hope this helps you

edited Aug 22, 2014 at 2:04

answered Aug 22, 2014 at 1:58

Utkarsh Dixit

4,2853 gold badges18 silver badges42 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

Comments

pthomsen · Accepted Answer · 2014-08-22 02:00:04Z

1

Maybe using relative paths for the include in the other index.php file.

<?php include '../config.php'; ?>

answered Aug 22, 2014 at 2:00

pthomsen

342 bronze badges

Comments

argamentor · Accepted Answer · 2014-08-22 02:04:39Z

1

You are using the server's actual filesystem path to refer to your stylesheets. That's like trying to do something like:

<link href="C:\your_website_path/includes/shop.css"...

and wont work.

I would recommend to change that to something like:

define('ROOT_PATH', 'http://www.your-website-url.com/');

Regards,

answered Aug 22, 2014 at 2:04

argamentor

1485 bronze badges

Comments

blamb · Accepted Answer · 2014-08-22 01:59:44Z

0

what you need to do is make the include for your config absolute, not relative. you begin the path with a dot ./config which means its relative. instead set up your header to include the config file with an absolute path like this

<?php include '/home/user/config.php';?>

This way, any page can find the file no matter its location in the directory structure.

answered Aug 22, 2014 at 1:59

blamb

4,3084 gold badges35 silver badges52 bronze badges

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

PHP include paths within directories

4 Answers 4

Comments

Comments

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

4 Answers 4

Comments

Comments

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related