get_included_files

Returns an array with the names of included or required files (PHP 4, PHP 5)
array get_included_files ( )

Gets the names of all files that have been included using include(), include_once(), require() or require_once().

Return Values

Returns an array of the names of all files.

The script originally called is considered an "included file," so it will be listed together with the files referenced by include() and family.

Files that are included or required multiple times only show up once in the returned array.

ChangeLog

Version	Description
4.0.1	In PHP 4.0.1 and previous versions this function assumed that the required files ended in the extension `.php`; other extensions would not be returned. The array returned by get_included_files() was an associative array and only listed files included by include() and include_once().

Examples

Example 1837. get_included_files() example

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<?php
// This file is abc.php

include 'test1.php';

include_once 'test2.php';

require 'test3.php';

require_once 'test4.php';

$included_files = get_included_files();


foreach ($included_files as $filename) {

    echo "$filename\n";

}

?>

The above example will output:

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abc.php

test1.php

test2.php

test3.php

test4.php

Notes

Note:

Files included using the auto_prepend_file configuration directive are not included in the returned array.

See Also

include()

include_once()

require()

require_once()

get_required_files()

Code Examples / Notes » get_included_files

The example is simply wrong as the behaviour of this function changed. It now in fact returns some absolut filenames (like you were using realpath() on them). In the past it returned the same string that was used to include/require the file. example (file in /var/www ): require('../www/somefile.php'); would be listed as ../www/somefile.php in the past but now as /var/www/somefile.php . The problem with the prior behaviour was that when you changed the working directory and used realpath() on the filenames than you got the wrong file or FALSE. I think the behviour was changed with PHP 5.0.0 (and therefor PHP 4.3.0) but I'm not sure. It is not mentioned here in the manual unfortunately.

Something that's not noted in the docs, if a file is included remotely and you do a get_included_files() in the include itself it will *not* return the document that included it. ie: test2.php (server 192.168.1.14): <?php include("http://192.168.1.11/test/test3.php"); ?> test3.php (server 192.168.1.11): <?php $files = get_included_files(); print_r($files); ?> returns: Array ( [0] => /var/www/localhost/htdocs/test/test3.php ) Which means you can use get_included_files() to help intercept and prevent XSS-style attacks against your code.

In regards to __FILE__ != $_SERVER['SCRIPT_FILENAME'] to check for a file as an include: This only works if you are using PHP as an Apache module; when using PHP as a CGI binary on shared hosts, the filepaths may differ, even if they end up pointing to the exact same file. For example, __FILE__ might be /home/SERVER/USER/SITE/test.php and $_SERVER['SCRIPT_FILENAME'] might be /home/USER/SITE/test.php Because of the SERVER included in the __FILE__ path, the comparison returns true, even though the file is not being included by any other file.

As of PHP5, this function seems to return an array with the first index being the script all subsequent scripts are included to. If index.php includes b.php and c.php and calls get_included_files(), the returned array looks as follows: index.php a.php b.php while in PHP<5 the array would be: a.php b.php If you want to know which is the script that is including current script you can use $_SERVER['SCRIPT_FILENAME'] or any other similar server global. If you also want to ensure current script is being included and not run independently you should evaluate following expression: __FILE__ != $_SERVER['SCRIPT_FILENAME'] If this expression returns TRUE, current script is being included or required.