I am trying to require my "library" files from php files in different folders, but it gives errors when trying to access them from a subfolder. For example I have such a directory:
+ home
- file1.php
++ subfolder
- file2.php
++ libraries
- code_generator.php
- database_library.php
code_generator.php also depends on the other library:
(LINE 25) require_once(realpath("./libraries/database_library.php"));
//this works fine when called from file1.php, but not from file2.php
I try to call code_generator from ./subfolder/file2.php like:
chmod("../libraries/codegenerator.php", 0777); // for the error at the end of this question
require_once("../libraries/code_generator.php");
When I run file2.php, it yields 2 errors:
**Warning**: require_once(C:\xampp\htdocs\home\subfolder): failed to open stream: Permission denied in C:\xampp\htdocs\home\libraries\code_generator.php on line 25
**Fatal error**: require_once(): Failed opening required '' (include_path='.;C:\xampp\php\PEAR') in C:\xampp\htdocs\home\libraries\code_generator.php on line 25
*line 25 is require_once(realpath("./libraries/database_library.php"));
You can use the PHP super global variable $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] to get the full path to your server document root, eg. /var/www/website/public.
The code could look like this:
require_once $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . '/libraries/database_library.php';
This way you do not need to set the document root path manually; PHP will always pick it up for you and make it available in $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] in any PHP file that is within your server document root.
The file does not exist.
The error message reads:
And:
Error messages never lie (well, almost never), therefore you are calling:
Realpath returns false for missing files
Realpath will return false if you pass it a path to a file that doesn't exist:
Therefore, the argument passed to realpath doesn't refer to a file, which is the reason the path doesn't work.
Don't over use realpath
If you remove the use of realpath, you'll find that the error message is probably obvious. At a guess you're trying to include
C:\xampp\htdocs\home\subfolder\libraries\database_library.php
- because there is a missing.
in this:If instead you just define a root path:
Then you can use this constant with absolute confidence that these sort of problems wont occur:
And if you do get the path wrong, the error message will make it obvious what the problem is.