Using the Include Function

Although PHP is a very powerful language, learning it is not a very hard task. The difficulty is learning all you can about it. Most beginner programmers will learn a few basics and figure out the rest as they go on. This is not a bad plan. However, there are several key areas they will need to know about in order to write better code and to make their own lives easier. One of the key areas is using the Include function in PHP.

For those who haven’t done any programming before the concept of Include will not make much sense. Those who have they will know it by the same or another name. The Include function is used to “put” the contents of one file within another. The basic advantage of this is that you can reduce the length of time taken to code and update a page.

Using FRAME and IFRAME is now considered ugly and it is also based on the type of browser rendering your page. By using the include function you can avoid this method and save a lot of time in the process. For example, by using Include to display a navigation menu you can update the navigation easily as well as have it appear on the page seamlessly. All you have to do is to create a page that holds your navigation, and then have it “included” in every other page.

So, from this brief explanation, you can see what a powerful function Include can be. By experimenting with it, you will find that it can be used to perform many other functions that will help you in your coding work.