Simple dynamic breadcrumb

Question

I think this script is of big interest to any noob around here :) including me :)

What I want to create is a little code that I can use in any file and will generate a breadcrumb like this:

If the file is called "website.com/templates/index.php" the breadcrumb should show:

Website.com > Templates 

 ^^ link                    ^^plain text

If the file is called "website.com/templates/template_some_name.php" the breadcrumb should show:

Website.com > Templates > Template Some Name 

 ^^ link                   ^^link                ^^plain text

Answer 1

This may be overkill for a simple breadcrumb, but it's worth a shot. I remember having this issue a long time ago when I first started, but I never really solved it. That is, until I just decided to write this up now. :)

I have documented as best I can inline, at the bottom are 3 possible use cases. Enjoy! (feel free to ask any questions you may have)

<?php  // This function will take $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'] and build a breadcrumb based on the user's current path function breadcrumbs($separator = ' &raquo; ', $home = 'Home') {     // This gets the REQUEST_URI (/path/to/file.php), splits the string (using '/') into an array, and then filters out any empty values     $path = array_filter(explode('/', parse_url($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'], PHP_URL_PATH)));      // This will build our "base URL" ... Also accounts for HTTPS :)     $base = ($_SERVER['HTTPS'] ? 'https' : 'http') . '://' . $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] . '/';      // Initialize a temporary array with our breadcrumbs. (starting with our home page, which I'm assuming will be the base URL)     $breadcrumbs = Array("<a href=\"$base\">$home</a>");      // Find out the index for the last value in our path array     $last = end(array_keys($path));      // Build the rest of the breadcrumbs     foreach ($path AS $x => $crumb) {         // Our "title" is the text that will be displayed (strip out .php and turn '_' into a space)         $title = ucwords(str_replace(Array('.php', '_'), Array('', ' '), $crumb));          // If we are not on the last index, then display an <a> tag         if ($x != $last)             $breadcrumbs[] = "<a href=\"$base$crumb\">$title</a>";         // Otherwise, just display the title (minus)         else             $breadcrumbs[] = $title;     }      // Build our temporary array (pieces of bread) into one big string :)     return implode($separator, $breadcrumbs); }  ?>  <p><?= breadcrumbs() ?></p> <p><?= breadcrumbs(' > ') ?></p> <p><?= breadcrumbs(' ^^ ', 'Index') ?></p>