PHP including other php files question

Question

I have a web page that has many php files in it and I was wondering how can I stop users from viewing the php includes individually?

Answer 1

One popular way is to define a constant in the including file:

define ("INCLUDE_OK", true);

and then to check in every sub-include:

if (!defined("INCLUDE_OK")) die ("This file can't be executed directly");

Alternatively, as @mikerobi says in his now deleted answer, store the include files in a folder outside the web root.