require() in a different dir

Say I've got the directory structure:


In header.php, I've got a page structure that uses images, and it uses the relative path to the images (images/image1.gif, etc).
In dirfile.php, I've got a function. Is there a way to set the working directory of a required file so I don't have to redo header.php with absolute paths?

It is best practice to code your html page so that absolute paths are used.

Instead of images/image1.gif you need to have /images/image1.gif.

You really don't need to recode this, a simple search and replace should suffice.

Is there a particular reason you need relative paths?

Not really, I'm just lazy
[backstory]
I've arranged some of the Halo music for piano, and going on to the Seventh Column forums, and Rampancy.net I see that others have done so as well; so I'm trying to have a music database in my site, but preferably with the pages under their own directory (egag), e.g.


Note: this isn't hosted on my own server, i'm using a web hosting service.

I agree with laidbak. Absolute paths are could be your best option.

Otherwise, anything in your egag folder would have to call ../images in to access the images folder.

I've tried playing with a "working directory" idea in PHP before... i found it to be more harm than good... not worth the hassel.

Hang on, on second thought why are you using require() with images?

i've set things like "halo_music_path" as a constant in a file called "config.php"... then require(halo_music_path."/page.php"); for example...

Is there a global to get the root directory, i.e. for me it'd be http://www.webhost.com/attic/ OR if I was testing on IIS, http://localhost/attic/
?

I'm requireing a template that uses images as headers, border, etc.

EDIT:
How hard is it to make a work dir thingy? Is it just a function or do you need to do 'real' coding and stuff ? I'm only just beginning to get comfortable with PHP, and I don't feel like learning another language at this stage...

is there a function like setworkdir(/egag) or setworkdir(../) that makes all relative paths point to inside that?

Working directory solutions are futile. I can gaurantee that. Absolute paths are the way to go.

Basically, if you are calling on one image in different ways (i.e. ../images/button.gif and ../../images/button.gif) you know you are going about it all wrong.

The fact of the matter is, the path to that image is /images/button.gif, thus, each call to that image should be just that.

Just try copying an html file from one directory that is several directories deep to a first level directory. If you have to modify the source of the html because the images don't work, you are doing it wrong.

I'm still confused... are we talking about <img> tags or require() functions?

still talking about <img> tags.

so is src=/images/image.gif an absolute path?? I though it had to have the host name as well. Oops.

1 - /images/image.gif is an absolute path

2 - http://www.example.com/images/image.gif is a URL

Which one is better and why?

#1 is better because you can move the source file from server to server, domain to domain, and never have to change any code.

Ah, now I understand.
I thought absolute path and URL to be the same thing. Oops, indeed.