How to append a path to PHP's include_path in .htaccess

Question

Currently on my site I'm using statements like:

include 'head.php';
include '../head.php';
include '../../head.php';

depending on how many nested folders deep I am. I'm sure there is a better way to do this.

I'm convinced .htaccess is the solution, but I'm not sure how to go about implementing it. If I insert:

php_value include_path "public/html/root"

... I lose the rest of my paths (/usr/lib/php, etc). I naively tried:

php_value include_path $include_path . "(path)"

but of course this didn't work. How could I prepend or append a single path to this list with .htaccess?

Answer 1

Create in the sub-sub-directories a file .htaccess with the contents

php_value include_path '../../includes'

or whatever include_path is right for that directory.

Advantages:

1. No ugly hack with multiple includes with different depth. Just include 'head.php'.
2. No dependency on editing php.ini.
3. No need to use set_include_path() before including.
4. No dependency on including constants like include INCLUDE_PATH . 'head.php'.

Price to pay:

You litter your sub-sub-directories each with a file .htaccess.

Answer 2

If you can't edit the php.ini file itself, you could add

set_include_path(get_include_path() . PATH_SEPARATOR . $path_to_add);

before your include statements.

However if you find yourself having include or require troubles, it is probably a code smell. The best solution would be a good object-oriented design with a good __autoload function.