----------------------------------------------------------------------- Use FreeOpenSourceSoftwares, Stop piracy, Let the developers live. Get a Free CD of Ubuntu mailed to your door without any cost. Visit : www.ubuntu.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- On Wed, Feb 18, 2009 at 11:05 PM, PJ <af.gourmet@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > 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 > dirname (PHP 4, PHP 5) dirname — Returns directory name component of path Description string dirname ( string $path ) Given a string containing a path to a file, this function will return the name of the directory. Parameters path A path. On Windows, both slash (/) and backslash (\) are used as directory separator character. In other environments, it is the forward slash (/). Return Values Returns the name of the directory. If there are no slashes in path , a dot ('.') is returned, indicating the current directory. Otherwise, the returned string is path with any trailing /component removed. Changelog Version Description 5.0.0 dirname() is now binary safe 4.0.3 dirname() was fixed to be POSIX-compliant. Examples Example #1 dirname() example <?php $path = "/etc/passwd"; $file = dirname($path); // $file is set to "/etc" ?> Notes Note: Since PHP 4.3.0, you will often get a slash or a dot back from dirname() in situations where the older functionality would have given you the empty string. Check the following change example: <?php //before PHP 4.3.0 dirname('c:/'); // returned '.' //after PHP 4.3.0 dirname('c:/x'); // returns 'c:\' dirname('c:/Temp/x'); // returns 'c:/Temp' dirname('/x'); // returns '\' ?> > > > > > > >> 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 . before the quotemark is the concatenation operator which joins the string(texts) together. :) > >> > > > > 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 > >
