Is it prefered to use $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] in the website?

Question

Do you think it is preferred to use $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] in website's include statements? Is it supported everywhere without any problem?

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 21 '12 at 12:24

5

Many frameworks use dirname(__FILE__) to work out the application path based on a known file, usually the index.php

In the Zend Framework, they use the following to define the application path, which is then used everywhere in the app:

define('APPLICATION_PATH', realpath(dirname(__FILE__) . '/../application');

answered Jan 21 '12 at 12:24

Paul Bain

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In PHP 5.3 you can just use `__DIR__` instead of `dirname(__FILE__)` – Treffynnon Jan 21 '12 at 12:25

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 21 '12 at 12:22

I personally prefer relative paths: include("../../some/other/path.php") Whenever I create a directory, I know exactly how my directory tree is setup, and it doesn't matter whether there is a document root or anything else available.

Furthermore, there are some cases where $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] may not work (eg, I have seen people have issues with it on IIS).

Is it prefered to use $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] in the website?

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