Way to get absolute path of file PHP

Question

Is there a way to get the absolute path of a file while having it included in another script?

So I'm trying to include a file that's in folder A while I'm in folder B but it keeps trying to refer to folder B's location.

I've tried dirname, $SERVER['PHP_SELF'], cwd(), but they still return a relative path.

Possibly duplicate of http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3952590/php-how-to-find-application-root — , Nov 03 '16 at 05:36
@SuperCoolHandsomeGelBoy No, that only gives me up to `/var/www/html`. My file is nested within a couple more folders in. — A. L, Nov 03 '16 at 05:40

score 51 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 03 '16 at 05:38

51

You can try like this

include dirname(__FILE__).'/../yourfile.php';

Since PHP 5.3.0 you can use also the magic constant __DIR__ More info in the docs

Another way is

$rootDir = realpath($_SERVER["DOCUMENT_ROOT"]);

include "$rootDir/yourfile.php";

answered Nov 03 '16 at 05:38

S.I.

1

+1 for the options! that made me think of this (common?) line: `$base_dr = basename(__DIR__);` (where the directory at the top of the structure drives biz logic somehow). – WEBjuju Jul 26 '18 at 15:19
for some strange reason `$rootDir = realpath($_SERVER["DOCUMENT_ROOT"] .'/../yourfile.php' );` will not work – Sep 27 '21 at 12:13

WEBjuju · Answer 2 · 2022-07-11T15:10:16.317

16

__FILE__

That is the absolute path to the file being executed.

simple usage examples:

echo __FILE__;

echo "This file is: " . __FILE__;

edited Jul 11 '22 at 15:10

answered Nov 03 '16 at 05:38

WEBjuju

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 31 '20 at 04:05

2

If you need the real path you can use the SplFileInfo.

$path = new SplFileInfo(__FILE__);
echo 'The real path is '.$path->getRealPath();

answered Mar 31 '20 at 04:05

Anik Anwar

3 Answers3