PHP include() Statement

Description

The include() statement is used to include a php file in another file. This way you can write a piece of code in a php file and can use it to multiple files through  include() statement.

If a.php is a php script calling b.php with include() statement, and does not find b.php, a.php executes with a warning, excluding the part of the code written within b.php.

Syntax:

include('name of the php file with path');

Example:

File my_include.php:

<?php
$sports1 = "football";
$sports2 = "cricket";
?>

File myfile.php, which includes my_include.php :

<?php
include('my_include.php');
echo "I prefer&nbsp;".  $sports1 ."&nbsp;
than&nbsp;".  $sports2;
?>

Output:

I prefer football  than cricket

View the example in the browser

If the file within require statement is not available:

For example, if you write my-include.php (which is not available),like this:

<?php
include('myfile_include.php');
echo "I prefer&nbsp;". $sports1 ."&nbsp; than&nbsp;". $sports2;
?>

View the example of php include statement where included file is not present

You can see that it fails to meet the purpose of including the file myfile_include.php, but the script does not stop executing.

require() Statement

require() is identical to include() except upon failure. On failure it produce a fatal E_ERROR level error.

See also

require_once, include_once

Previous: return statement
Next: require_once, include_once