PHP Include and Require Files

Hello, welcome to zhullyblog. If this is your first time here , please Subscribe to Zhullyblog by Email to get latest tutorial.

PHP Include and Require Files.

The best way to learn to code is to practice yourself. I urge you to practice with yourself

The PHP Include and Require file is similar to links in HTML. The include and require file is used to link another page in a particular page.

The include () and require () statement allows you to include a PHP code of another file in another file.

The include () and require () statement saves you from typing all over but instead allow you to access the code in another file in a particular file.

A good example is including the header , footer , menu and other pages content.

Syntax of include and require

include 'filename'

or
require 'filename'

The slight difference between include and HTML links is that the link only works when you click on it directly but the include and require will show the content directly.

PHP include file

Let's take an example.

In the example below, we would include a header , footer files on the main page.

<html>
<head>
<title>How to include file </title>
</head>
<body>
<?php include "header.php"; ?>
<?php include "Blog.php"; ?>
Text here 
Text here
Text here 
Text here
<?php include "footer.php"; ?>
</body>
</html>

This means that you would have initially created a file saved as header.php separately then include it in the file.

PHP require file

Here is an example

<html>
<head>
<title>How to require file </title>
</head>
<body>
<?php require "header.php"; ?>
<?php require "Blog.php"; ?>
Text here 
Text here
Text here 
Text here
</body>
</html>

Difference between Include and Require statement
There are solid difference between the include and require statement. Well, the require() statement works like the include () statement but the only difference is that :

• The include () statement will generate a PHP warning once the file included can't be found
but
require ( ) will stop the script execution once the file can't be found.
This means that the file must have been created before you include or require it in a page.

But do you know that you MIGHT accidentally include a file twice? Ooh yes!! That will lead us to the include_once and require_once statement.

The include_once and require_once statement

There are times you accidentally include the same file twice in your code and seriously you have no idea that you have included the file and a problem popup.

What exactly do you do in this situation.
To resolve any conflict that may pop up, you use include_once and require_once statement.

This is how it works -
The include_once and require_once will include the file ONCE and PHP Include and Require Files.

Here is an example

<html>
<head>
<title>How to include file </title>
</head>
<body>
<?php include_once "header.php"; ?>
<?php require_once "Blog.php"; ?>
Text here 
Text here
Text here 
Text here
<?php include_once "footer.php"; ?>
</body>
</html>