PHP Includes

Hi all,
Is there a default folder I should be using for include files (php)?
At the moment I'm sticking them 1 level above the document root and calling them with 'require_once(../folder/file.php). This will get messy when I start doing something like ../../../folder/file.php as I drill down within the site.

Is there a way to have 'folder' in the include path?
Do we have a personal php.ini file?
How do you all handle this?

phpinfo() shows a path of .:/usr/local/php5/lib/php. Obvious not the place to put them even if I had access.

As you can tell I'm a newbie at this. Any php I've done has been done locally. First time using an actual host.

thanks,

When doing PHP includes, your best bet is to put all the files you want to include in the same folder. For example, http://example.com/includes/. Then you can perform the include by using the DOCUMENT_ROOT environment variable:

<?php include($_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT']."/includes/file.php"; ?>

That is functionally equivalent to:

<?php include("/home/username/domain.com/includes/file.php"; ?>

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Simon Jessey | Keystone Websites
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Thanks Simon,

the only issue with this is if someone types www.example.com/includes they get a listing of all the include files!! Which is no good if there's sensitive info in there. I realise I can call the folder 'fdg@321' for eg instead of 'includes' and that I can stick an index.php that redirects the user away from the includes folder, but apparently (or so I've heard/read) it's 'safer' to have the includes folder outside the document root and was just wondering if that's possible on DreamHost? Am I being paranoid?

thanks,

In reply to:

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the only issue with this is if someone types www.example.com/includes they get a listing of all the include files! ... Am I being paranoid?

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You can prevent directory listing by creating an .htaccess file containing the following line:

Options -Indexes

Put that in the directory you are trying to protect. If you put it in your root directory, it will protect ALL directories.

You can set the include path at runtime. Have a look at

http://uk.php.net/manual/en/function.set-include-path.php

In reply to:

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You can set the include path at runtime. Have a look at

http://uk.php.net/manual/en/function.set-include-path.php

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As far as I know, that doesn't work when PHP is running as a CGI application.

In reply to:

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As far as I know, that doesn't work when PHP is running as a CGI application.

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That option works with PHP CGI. It's the php_value option that does not.

And if all else fails, you can always use ini_set() under either mod_php or PHP-CGI.