Usage of __DIR__ constant

  • Thread starter Thread starter Anonymous
  • Start date Start date
A

Anonymous

Guest
Hello to you all,
I have a problem understanding how to use __DIR__ constant

Here is the code of the file main.php . It works well
Code: 
<?php
if(!isset($_POST['firstname'])){
	include __DIR__ .'/../../form.html.php';
}else {
	$firstname = $_POST['firstname'];
	$lastname = $_POST['lastname'];

	if ($firstname =='Kevin' && $lastname == 'Yank'){
	$output = 'Welcom, Oh glorious leader!';
} else {
	$output = 'Welcome to our website, ' .htmlspecialchars($firstname, ENT_QUOTES, 'UTF-8') .' ' . htmlspecialchars($lastname, ENT_QUOTES, 'UTF-8') . '!';
	
}

include __DIR__ .'/../welcome.html.php';
}
?>
Here is the code for form.html.php
Code: 
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
 <head>
  <title> Enter your name </title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="form.css" />
  <meta charset="utf-8">
 
 </head>

 <body>
  <form method="POST" action="">
   <label for="firstname">First name:</label>
	<input type="text" name="firstname"id="firstname" />

	<label for="lastname">Last name:</label>
	<input type="text" name="lastname"id="lastname" />

	<input type="submit" value="GO">
</form>
 </body>
</html>

Here is the code for welcome.html.php
Code: 
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
 <head>
  <title> Form Example </title>
  <meta charset=""utf-8">
</head>

 <body>
	<p><?php echo $output;?></p>
 </body>
</html>

If I understand correctly, the __DIR__ "knows" where the including file is located so that if I move the file to a new directory it should work without updatind the code.
Yet, when I created a newdirectory and I cut and pasted the file there. I didn't work

I got these messages:
Warning: include(C:\wamp\www\PracticePhP\templates\PHPPRA\STILL/../../form.html.php): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in C:\wamp\www\PracticePhP\templates\PHPPRA\STILL\main.php on line 3

And

Warning: include(): Failed opening 'C:\wamp\www\PracticePhP\templates\PHPPRA\STILL/../../form.html.php' for inclusion (include_path='.;C:\php\pear') in C:\wamp\www\PracticePhP\templates\PHPPRA\STILL\main.php on line 3

Line 3 is where the 1st include is.

I work on wamp at home.
It isn't a problem of pesmissions
How do I take advantage of the __DIR__ constant if It fails when I move the including file to a new directory?
 
If I understand correctly, the __DIR__ "knows" where the including file is located
Click to expand...
__DIR__ knows which directory the currently executing file is located.

so that if I move the file to a new directory it should work without updating the code.
Click to expand...
No, you need to change your include statement, the server can only find files when it knows where to find them; __DIR__ will be set to the directory of the currently executing file: 'main.php'

I use:
Code: 
$root=$_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'];
# and then to include the file:
include $root.'/path/form.html.php';

But you still need to update the path when you change the location of the file you want to include, using ../ can really give you headaches and can get you into trouble if you're not very careful.
 
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