Stuart wrote: > 2009/2/18 PJ <af.gourmet@xxxxxxxxxxxx>: > >> Stuart wrote: >> >>>>> <?php include dirname(__FILE__)."/../header.php"; ?> >>>>> >> This generates a Fatal error: Cal to undefined function dirname() .... ???? >> > > The dirname function is present in both PHP 4 and 5 and does not rely > on any external libraries. Are you sure you're spelling it right? > > http://php.net/dirname > > >> I must be really dense... >> What I don't understand in the above is this - dirname refers to what >> directory? -- the directory of the file that is including? what if the >> directory is the root directory of the site? >> >> (_FILE_) = what? - (_filename.ext_) or (filename.ext) --- what file is >> this, the file which is including the file header.php? >> > > The __FILE__ (note 2 _'s either side) constant is the full path and > filename to the current script. The dirname function knocks the > filename off it to give you the directory the current script is in. > You can then append a / and then the relative path to the script you > want to include. By doing this you're ensuring that all includes are > relative to the current script and are not affected by ini settings or > anything else. > > >> and what does the . mean and then "/../header.php" --- I don't >> understand what to enter here >> > > The . is the string append operator. I tend to assume the most basic > level of PHP knowledge from users of this list and I include the > string append operator in that set. You might want to find a beginners > tutorial for PHP and work through that to give you a solid foundation > before attempting to work with multiple scripts. > > -Stuart > > What confused me here is that often, in examples, there are all sorts of references to files and there seems to be no standard as to how to refer to them in non-scripts such as these e-mails. So, I thought that dirname(_FILE_) was a general reference to a directory name and a file... :-( I don't want to defend myself here, but I cannot be expected to know all functions and look up anything that might resemble a function... I still do not understand, and that is the keyword here, I am trying to understand things - what does /../header.php mean. I know the 2 dots mean a higher directory in Unix... but I understood that ../ would mean the root directory - so what is the / before the ../header.php mean? When including scripts or pages, i find that if I am referencing to the current directory, just the filename or /filename works. If the reference is up a level, ../ works e.g. to reference root/images/ from root/authors = ../images/file.ext from root = /images/file.ext or images/file.ext I haven't needed to go to a deeper level yet. -- Phil Jourdan --- pj@xxxxxxxxxxxxx http://www.ptahhotep.com http://www.chiccantine.com -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
