Sometimes, especially when doing lazy-loading (or very lazy loading…), it’s handly to know whether a file exists anywhere along your include_path.
<?php /** * Check if a file exists in the include path * * @version 1.2.1 * @author Aidan Lister <aidan@php.net> * @link http://aidanlister.com/2004/04/searching-for-files-in-the-include_path/ * @param string $file Name of the file to look for * @return mixed The full path if file exists, FALSE if it does not */ function file_exists_incpath ($file) { $paths = explode(PATH_SEPARATOR, get_include_path()); foreach ($paths as $path) { // Formulate the absolute path $fullpath = $path . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . $file; // Check it if (file_exists($fullpath)) { return $fullpath; } } return false; } ?>