Executing php from another file

Question

Hi guys, i have 1 template-file, which is included into main file.

some.template:

...
<?php echo '!'; ?>
...

in main file i read file into 1 variable and display it. Of course, php script doesn't run there. How can i do that, what i want?

Thanks

Answer 1

Do not read the file into variable, instead do

 include 'some.template';

Answer 2

You could use include to read and process the file. If you need to post-process the result (I assume that might be the reason for you to read the template into a variable) try output buffering:

ob_start();
include 'some.template';
$out = ob_get_clean();
echo $out;

If you need to modify the template before having PHP process it, you will have to resort to eval. But I would advise you to be very careful with this for obvious security reasons and maybe-not-so-obvious performance reasons. If you just need some variables to be replaced, you should consider using a template engine instead or simple means like preg_replace.

Answer 3

Since you wish to edit the script before using it, the only way to do this practially is to use:

eval($string);

I'm sure I don't need to tell you not to do this with user input if you value security at all.