How to include() all PHP files from a directory?
PhpIncludePhp Problem Overview
In PHP can I include a directory of scripts?
i.e. Instead of:
include('classes/Class1.php');
include('classes/Class2.php');
is there something like:
include('classes/*');
Couldn't seem to find a good way of including a collection of about 10 sub-classes for a particular class.
Php Solutions
Solution 1 - Php
foreach (glob("classes/*.php") as $filename)
{
include $filename;
}
Solution 2 - Php
Here is the way I include lots of classes from several folders in PHP 5. This will only work if you have classes though.
/*Directories that contain classes*/
$classesDir = array (
ROOT_DIR.'classes/',
ROOT_DIR.'firephp/',
ROOT_DIR.'includes/'
);
function __autoload($class_name) {
global $classesDir;
foreach ($classesDir as $directory) {
if (file_exists($directory . $class_name . '.php')) {
require_once ($directory . $class_name . '.php');
return;
}
}
}
Solution 3 - Php
I realize this is an older post BUT... DON'T INCLUDE YOUR CLASSES... instead use __autoload
function __autoload($class_name) {
require_once('classes/'.$class_name.'.class.php');
}
$user = new User();
Then whenever you call a new class that hasn't been included yet php will auto fire __autoload and include it for you
Solution 4 - Php
this is just a modification of Karsten's code
function include_all_php($folder){
foreach (glob("{$folder}/*.php") as $filename)
{
include $filename;
}
}
include_all_php("my_classes");
Solution 5 - Php
How to do this in 2017:
spl_autoload_register( function ($class_name) {
$CLASSES_DIR = __DIR__ . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . 'classes' . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR; // or whatever your directory is
$file = $CLASSES_DIR . $class_name . '.php';
if( file_exists( $file ) ) include $file; // only include if file exists, otherwise we might enter some conflicts with other pieces of code which are also using the spl_autoload_register function
} );
Recommended by PHP documentation here: Autoloading classes
Solution 6 - Php
You can use set_include_path:
set_include_path('classes/');
Solution 7 - Php
<?php
//Loading all php files into of functions/ folder
$folder = "./functions/";
$files = glob($folder."*.php"); // return array files
foreach($files as $phpFile){
require_once("$phpFile");
}
Solution 8 - Php
If there are NO dependencies between files... here is a recursive function to include_once ALL php files in ALL subdirs:
$paths = array();
function include_recursive( $path, $debug=false){
foreach( glob( "$path/*") as $filename){
if( strpos( $filename, '.php') !== FALSE){
# php files:
include_once $filename;
if( $debug) echo "<!-- included: $filename -->\n";
} else { # dirs
$paths[] = $filename;
}
}
# Time to process the dirs:
for( $i=count($paths)-1; $i>0; $i--){
$path = $paths[$i];
unset( $paths[$i]);
include_recursive( $path);
}
}
include_recursive( "tree_to_include");
# or... to view debug in page source:
include_recursive( "tree_to_include", 'debug');
Solution 9 - Php
If your looking to include a bunch of classes without having to define each class at once you can use:
$directories = array(
'system/',
'system/db/',
'system/common/'
);
foreach ($directories as $directory) {
foreach(glob($directory . "*.php") as $class) {
include_once $class;
}
}
This way you can just define the class on the php file containing the class and not a whole list of $thisclass = new thisclass();
As for how well it handles all the files? I'm not sure there might be a slight speed decrease with this.
Solution 10 - Php
If you want include all in a directory AND its subdirectories:
$dir = "classes/";
$dh = opendir($dir);
$dir_list = array($dir);
while (false !== ($filename = readdir($dh))) {
if($filename!="."&&$filename!=".."&&is_dir($dir.$filename))
array_push($dir_list, $dir.$filename."/");
}
foreach ($dir_list as $dir) {
foreach (glob($dir."*.php") as $filename)
require_once $filename;
}
Don't forget that it will use alphabetic order to include your files.
Solution 11 - Php
I suggest you use a readdir() function and then loop and include the files (see the 1st example on that page).
Solution 12 - Php
Try using a library for that purpose.
That is a simple implementation for the same idea I have build. It include the specified directory and subdirectories files.
IncludeAll
Install it via terminal [cmd]
composer install php_modules/include-all
Or set it as a dependency in the package.json file
{
"require": {
"php_modules/include-all": "^1.0.5"
}
}
Using
$includeAll = requires ('include-all');
$includeAll->includeAll ('./path/to/directory');
Solution 13 - Php
This is a late answer which refers to PHP > 7.2 up to PHP 8.
The OP does not ask about classes in the title, but from his wording we can read that he wants to include classes. (btw. this method also works with namespaces).
By using require_once you kill three mosquitoes with one towel.
- first, you get a meaningful punch in the form of an error message in your logfile if the file doesn't exist. which is very useful when debugging.( include would just generate a warning that might not be that detailed)
- you include only files that contain classes
- you avoid loading a class twice
spl_autoload_register( function ($class_name) {
require_once '/var/www/homepage/classes/' . $class_name . '.class.php';
} );
this will work with classes
new class_name;
or namespaces. e.g. ...
use homepage\classes\class_name;
Solution 14 - Php
Answer ported over from another question. Includes additional info on the limits of using a helper function, along with a helper function for loading all variables in included files.
There is no native "include all from folder" in PHP. However, it's not very complicated to accomplish. You can glob the path for .php
files and include the files in a loop:
foreach (glob("test/*.php") as $file) {
include_once $file;
}
In this answer, I'm using include_once
for including the files. Please feel free to change that to include
, require
or require_once
as necessary.
You can turn this into a simple helper function:
function import_folder(string $dirname) {
foreach (glob("{$dirname}/*.php") as $file) {
include_once $file;
}
}
If your files define classes, functions, constants etc. that are scope-independent, this will work as expected. However, if your file has variables, you have to "collect" them with get_defined_vars()
and return them from the function. Otherwise, they'd be "lost" into the function scope, instead of being imported into the original scope.
If you need to import variables from files included within a function, you can:
function load_vars(string $path): array {
include_once $path;
unset($path);
return get_defined_vars();
}
This function, which you can combine with the import_folder
, will return an array with all variables defined in the included file. If you want to load variables from multiple files, you can:
function import_folder_vars(string $dirname): array {
$vars = [];
foreach (glob("{$dirname}/*.php") as $file) {
// If you want to combine them into one array:
$vars = array_merge($vars, load_vars($file));
// If you want to group them by file:
// $vars[$file] = load_vars($file);
}
return $vars;
}
The above would, depending on your preference (comment/uncomment as necessary), return all variables defined in included files as a single array, or grouped by the files they were defined in.
On a final note: If all you need to do is load classes, it's a good idea to instead have them autoloaded on demand using spl_autoload_register
. Using an autoloader assumes that you have structured your filesystem and named your classes and namespaces consistently.
Solution 15 - Php
Do no write a function() to include files in a directory. You may lose the variable scopes, and may have to use "global". Just loop on the files.
Also, you may run into difficulties when an included file has a class name that will extend to the other class defined in the other file - which is not yet included. So, be careful.