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The Include Function: Menu - PHP Code

The PHP include function allows files to insert another file's contents into the script. This allows common headers, menus, or other elements to be defined in one file and included across multiple pages, rather than copying the same code into every file. For example, a site could define a common menu file called "menu.php" and then use the include function on pages like "index.php", "about.php", and "contact.php" to include the menu. This saves the trouble of updating every page if the menu changes.

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Anil Kumar
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54 views

The Include Function: Menu - PHP Code

The PHP include function allows files to insert another file's contents into the script. This allows common headers, menus, or other elements to be defined in one file and included across multiple pages, rather than copying the same code into every file. For example, a site could define a common menu file called "menu.php" and then use the include function on pages like "index.php", "about.php", and "contact.php" to include the menu. This saves the trouble of updating every page if the menu changes.

Uploaded by

Anil Kumar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The Include Function

Without understanding much about the details of PHP, you can save yourself a great deal of time with the
use of the PHP include function. The include function takes a file name and simply inserts that file's contents
into the script that calls used the include function.
Why is this a cool thing? Well, first of all, this means that you can type up a common header or menu file
that you want all your web pages to include. When you add a new page to your site, instead of having to
update the links on several web pages, you can simply change the Menu file.

An Include Example

Say we wanted to create a common menu file that all our pages will use. A common practice for naming
files that are to be included is to use the ".php" extension. Since we want to create a common menu let's save it
as "menu.php".

menu.php Code:
<html>
<body>
<a href="http://www.example.com/index.php">Home</a> -
<a href="http://www.example.com/about.php">About Us</a> -
<a href="http://www.example.com/links.php">Links</a> -
<a href="http://www.example.com/contact.php">Contact Us</a> <br />

Save the above file as "menu.php". Now create a new file, "index.php" in the same directory as
"menu.php". Here we will take advantage of the include function to add our common menu.

index.php Code:
<?php include("menu.php"); ?>
<p>This is my home page that uses a common menu to save me time when I add
new pages to my website!</p>
</body>
</html>

Display:
Home - About Us - Links - Contact Us
This is my home page that uses a common menu to save me time when I add new pages
to my website!

And we would do the same thing for "about.php", "links.php", and "contact.php". Just think how terrible it
would be if you had 15 or more pages with a common menu and you decided to add another web page to that
site. You would have to go in an manually edit every single file to add this new page, but with include files you
simply have to change "menu.php" and all your problems are solved. Avoid such troublesome occasions with a
simple include file.

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