Question

I am trying to write a function that includes a file named header.php in a helper file in Code Igniter.

// loads the header
function loadHeader() {
    require_once('../views/templates/header.php');
}

However, PHP issues the error

Message: require_once(../views/templates/header.php) [function.require-once]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory

I then tried to make the address relative to the view that is calling loadHeader().

// loads the header
function loadHeader() {
    require_once('templates/header.php');
}

However, this function also produces a similar error. What is the address relative to? Is there a convenient way for me to find out the relative path from which PHP is including a file?

Answer 1

There are a few ways to do this:

Standard View Loading:

<?php
function loadHeader() {
    $CI =& get_instance();
    $CI->load->view('templates/header');
}

Absolute Include:

<?php
function loadHeader() {
    require_once(APPPATH.'views/templates/header.php');
}

Relative Include:

<?php
function loadHeader() {
    $dir = getcwd();
    chdir(dirname(__FILE__));
    require_once(realpath('../views/templates/header.php'));
    chdir($dir);
}