Xdebug weird DIR constant

Question

I am writing an PHP CLI app which loads YAML files. When trying to do this within an Xdebug session:

if (file_exists(__DIR__ . '/../../foo/bar')
{
    /* ... */
}

__DIR__ allways is xdebug: which will allways lead to false from file_exists().

Is there any work around?

@Spudley No I am just executing the code "normally". When I don't use xDebug it works like a charm. But a non debuggable app isn't that nice :( — Jan P., Jan 21 '14 at 10:30
Hmm. If you were running via eval, the answer would be per [the answer here](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4924676/how-can-i-get-the-php-magic-constant-file-work-with-eclipse-and-pdt) (posted by the author of xDebug). It sure *sounds* like the same problem. — Spudley, Jan 21 '14 at 11:30
What happens if you do `$dir = __DIR__; if (file_exists($dir . '/../../foo/bar')...`? — user555, Jan 21 '14 at 11:32
What is your PHP version ? `__DIR__` constant was introduced in PHP v5.3.0, see the alternative in my answer below. — mbenegas, Jul 05 '16 at 23:02

score 15 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 20 '14 at 12:56

15

Set $dir = __DIR__; and use if (file_exists($dir . '/../../foo/bar'). It will work like that.

answered Sep 20 '14 at 12:56

Zsolti

4

_Where_ do you set `$dir = __DIR__`? Is this still correct in xDebug 3? – MikeiLL Sep 09 '21 at 14:29

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:13

0

The thing is that your debugger shows you a wrong value as DIR has already been replaced in your script by the parser.

The whole explanation can be found here:

The output you get is not incorrect. FILE is a special constant that gets evaluated at parser time.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:13

Community

answered Nov 02 '16 at 12:15

lanoxx

score -5 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 05 '16 at 23:02

-5

As an alternative replace your __DIR__ constant with dirname(__FILE__) function

if (file_exists(dirname(__FILE__) . '/../../foo/bar')
{
    /* ... */
}

answered Jul 05 '16 at 23:02

mbenegas

1

This does not work, `__FILE__` returns `xdebug://debug-eval`, not the correct file. – Jeremy Oct 02 '18 at 14:39

3 Answers3