include and get_template_part

Question

What is the difference between a php include and the wordpress get_template_part other then you have a fallback option on the latter? Can I as well use a php include instead?

Answer 1

I was also wondering about this recently and the article that I found very useful was this:

How to Include and Require Files and Templates in WordPress

The author of the article follows these guidelines:

• In theme development, I always use get_template_part().
• In plugin development, I almost always use include_once() and I generally use it once in a function. You can see this in my boilerplates.
• If the plugin I’m writing is going to be used on a very large site, then I use require_once().

UPDATE

According to another article, using get_template_part() is especially useful when trying to build a child theme, but I guess you already know that:).

Maybe the best way to know the difference is to check the source code of get_template_part()

Answer 2

get_template_part also allows child themes to override that file and include additional more specific files.

For example, if you used get_template_part( 'loop', 'single' ) and your theme only has a file named loop.php then a child theme could include a file named loop-single.php that would override your loop.php.