File_exists but won't include

Question

I'm trying to include a file but it doesn't seem to be working - here's the entire code:

if (file_exists('config/categories.php')) {
    include ('config/categories.php'); 
} 

foreach ($categories as $cat_sef => $cat_name) {
    echo '<a href="'.$full_domain.$cat_sef.'" alt="#">'.$cat_name.'</a><br />';
}

The contents of config/categories.php is simply an array:

$categories = array("category-1" => "Category 1", 
"category-2" => "Category 2", 
"category-3" => "Category 3")

I know the file exists because the following works:

if (file_exists('config/categories.php')) {
    echo "file exists";
}

However if I replace the array in categories.php with say:

echo "testing";

Nothing will display either. So as far as I can see, the file exists but it doesn't seem to be including some how. If I rename the categories file to something else I will receive a 'no such file' error (file does not exist).

With the original code snippet, the error I get is:

Notice: Undefined variable: categories

But as you can see, it is defined in the categories.php file.

The ONLY way it works is to put the array in place of the if (file_exists) part of my code, which I don't want to do because other parts rely on that categories.php file, so I don't want to dupe an array in multiple files.

Does anyone have any idea what this could be? Let me know if you need any more info.

Answer 1

You have two options here :

• use include(dirname(__FILE__).'/config/categories.php') to make sure you are including this same file and not another 'config/categories.php'

• double check that categories.php includes opening php tags like this <?php . Seems obvious, but I have seen this more than once in code reviews.

Hope this helps !

Answer 2

You just included $categories inside if operator scope, so you can't use $categories outside. Just introduce $categories before inclusion

$categories = null;
if (file_exists('config/categories.php')) {
    include ('config/categories.php'); 
} 

foreach ($categories as $cat_sef => $cat_name) {
    echo '<a href="'.$full_domain.$cat_sef.'" alt="#">'.$cat_name.'</a><br />';
}

Answer 3

file_exists and include do not looking for file in the same way. include use the include_path option and search for your file in differents directory.

If you really want to know if a file can be included, you should use an absolute path.

An other thing. If your foreach ($categories code is inside a function, you need to define the $categories variable as global. Because include are always done in the global context.

Answer 4

如果您之前已经包含此文件，请使用include_once 。

Answer 5

If your file exists then please check php.ini file and set short_tag_open=on . It may works.