0PricingLogin▼
PHP Academy · Lesson

Including and Requiring Files

Split pages into reusable parts with include and require.

Code Reuse with File Inclusion

PHP provides four statements to include code from other files:

  • include — include file; warning if missing
  • require — include file; fatal error if missing
  • include_once — include only if not already included
  • require_once — require only if not already included

include and require

The key difference: a missing require file is fatal; a missing include just warns:

<?php
// Fatal error if missing — use for critical files
require 'config.php';
require 'database.php';

// Warning if missing, but execution continues
include 'optional_plugin.php';

// Use __DIR__ for reliable relative paths:
require __DIR__ . '/helpers/utils.php';

All lessons in this course

  1. PHP Tags and Embedding Syntax
  2. Dynamic HTML with PHP Loops
  3. Including and Requiring Files
  4. Template Pattern: Separating Logic from View
← Back to PHP Academy