Difference between "include" and "require" in php

Question

Is there any difference between them? Is using them a matter of preference? Does using one over the other produce any advantages? Which is better for security?

Answer 1

require will throw a PHP Fatal Error if the file cannot be loaded.

Answer 2

A quick google will help you :) http://www.alt-php-faq.org/local/78/

Unlike include(), require() will always read in the target file, even if the line it's on never executes. If you want to conditionally include a file, use include(). The conditional statement won't affect the require(). However, if the line on which the require() occurs is not executed, neither will any of the code in the target file be executed.

Answer 3

Use include if you don't mind your script continuing without loading the file (in case it doesn't exist etc) and you can (although you shouldn't) live with a Warning error message being displayed.

Using require means your script will halt if it can't load the specified file, and throw a Fatal error.

Answer 4

As others pointed out, the only difference is that require throws a fatal error, and include - a catchable warning. As for which one to use, my advice is to stick to include. Why? because you can catch a warning and produce a meaningful feedback to end users. Consider

  // Example 1.
  // users see a standard php error message or a blank screen
  // depending on your display_errors setting
  require 'not_there'; 


  // Example 2.
  // users see a meaningful error message
  try {
      include 'not_there';
  } catch(Exception $e) {
     echo "something strange happened!";
  }

NB: for example 2 to work you need to install an errors-to-exceptions handler, as described here http://www.php.net/manual/en/class.errorexception.php

  function exception_error_handler($errno, $errstr, $errfile, $errline ) {
     throw new ErrorException($errstr, 0, $errno, $errfile, $errline);
  }
  set_error_handler("exception_error_handler");