What's better of require(dirname(FILE).'/'.'myParent.php') than just require('myParent.php')?

Asked 2010-02-08T08:59:55.737

Lots of famous PHP scripts including WordPress use dirname(__FILE__).'/myParent.php' instead of just 'myParent.php' when including files in the same directory of the currently running script.

Aren't they the same thing? Why do you prefer typing more?

Thanks.

php include require

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1 Answer

Using dirname + file name is slightly faster, because PHP will not iterate through include_path searching for the file. If speed matters, you will likely type more.

answered 2010-02-08T09:08:00.940

What's better of require(dirname(__FILE__).'/'.'myParent.php') than just require('myParent.php')?

1 Answer