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How can I return the pathname from the current file, only 2 directories up?

So if I my current file URL is returning theme/includes/functions.php

How can I return "theme/"

Currently I am using 

return dirname(__FILE__)
Charles Sprayberry
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levi
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7 Answers7

97

PHP 5.3+

return dirname(__DIR__);

PHP 5.2 and lower

return dirname(dirname(__FILE__));

With PHP7 go further up the directory tree by specifying the 2nd argument to dirname. Versions prior to 7 will require further nesting of dirname.

http://php.net/manual/en/function.dirname.php

Charles Sprayberry
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  • Is the main benefit from this method over `dirname(__FILE__).'/../';` to remove the possible inconsistency of DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR? – Patrick Apr 27 '12 at 14:04
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    @Patrick I would say that the main benefit of this over your suggestion is that we get the absolute path of the directory instead of a relative path. Also, DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR inconsistencies are generally edge cases as PHP automatically converts *nix style separators into the appropriate Windows style separator for most cases. – Charles Sprayberry Apr 27 '12 at 14:12
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    what if you had to go 3+ levels up? Would be nice if dirname's 2nd parameter was `$levels`, thus `dirname(__FILE__, 3);` :-) – Geo Sep 09 '14 at 16:09
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    @Patrick another strategy to ensure the correct DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR is uses is to wrap the path in realpath() – Jorge Orpinel Pérez Oct 02 '14 at 22:08
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    From PHP 7 there is a second parameter `levels`. http://php.net/manual/en/function.dirname.php – rocknrollcanneverdie Oct 11 '15 at 14:12
39

Even simpler than dirname(dirname(__FILE__)); is using __DIR__

dirname(__DIR__);

which works from php 5.3 on.

cweiske
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4
[ web root ]
    / config.php
    [ admin ] 
        [ profile ] 
            / somefile.php

How can you include config.php in somefile.php? You need to use dirname with 3 directories structure from the current somefile.php file.

require_once dirname(dirname(dirname(__FILE__))) . '/config.php'; 

dirname(dirname(dirname(__FILE__))) . '/config.php'; # 3 directories up to current file
michaelb958--GoFundMonica
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Friede Petr
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2

As suggested by @geo, here's an enhanced dirname function that accepts a 2nd param with the depth of a dirname search:

/**
 * Applies dirname() multiple times.
 * @author Jorge Orpinel <jorge@orpinel.com>
 * 
 * @param string $path file/directory path to beggin at
 * @param number $depth number of times to apply dirname(), 2 by default
 * 
 * @todo validate params
 */
function dirname2( $path, $depth = 2 ) {

    for( $d=1 ; $d <= $depth ; $d++ )
        $path = dirname( $path );

    return $path;
}

Note: that @todo may be relevant.

The only problem is that if this function is in an external include (e.g. util.php) you can't use it to include such file :B

Jorge Orpinel Pérez
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2

Late to the party, but you can also do something like below, using \..\..\ as many times as needed to move up directory levels.

$credentials = require __DIR__ . '\..\App\Database\config\file.php';

Which is the equivalent to:

$credentials = dirname(__DIR__) . '\App\Database\config\file.php';

The benefit being is that it avoids having to nest dirname like:

dirname(dirname(dirname(__DIR__))

Note, that this is tested on a IIS server - not sure about a linux server, but I don't see why it wouldn't work.

puiu
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  • Also look at using realpath() like `realpath(__DIR__ . '/../../')` to go up two levels. – puiu May 12 '16 at 18:57
0
require_once(dirname(__FILE__) . "/../../functions.php");
Bhargav Rao
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Rocky Kumar
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0

This is an old question but sill relevant.

Use:

basename(dirname(__DIR__));

to return just the second parent folder name - "theme" in this case.

http://php.net/manual/en/function.basename.php

codywohlers
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