Using Includes with PHP

by Jubba   | filed under Web, HTML, CSS, and XML

Introduction

This tutorial is just a down and dirty explanation on how to use the include() function in an attempt to make your PHP code-writing life a little easier. Basically the include() function includes the file placed inside the parenthesis as the argument inside of your main file. I use this a lot when I am connecting to a database over multiple files. I keep all of my connection variables in my include file and call them throughout my main scripts. Kind of like this:

                      Include file:
  include.php

  <?

  // This is my include file

  $dbHost = "localhost";

  $dbUser = "root";

  $dbPass = "";

  $dbName = "MyDataBase";

  ?>

This is the file that I name include.php Its the one that I will be placing inside of my main scripting files. Then all you need to do to place your information inside of your file is one small line of code:

                      Main file:

  <?

  include("include.inc");

  // The rest of my code would
  go here...

  // and here...

  // and here...

  // and here...

  // and here...

  ?> 

Now there is another function similar to this, require() the only difference between them is that require() returns a fatal error and stops the script from executing. Include() doesn't do that; the script continues to run even if the file that you are including contains some type of an error. I know that this tutorial didn't cover 100% of the bases. It was just a simple explanation. If you would like more info you can check out PHP.net or feel free to ask on the forums in the Server-side Scripting Forum.

Jubba

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