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phpphpmailer

php - function require-once can't find file

I am implementing a code where visitors can email our company.

in my gmail.php, it has this code for line 11

require_once('PHPMailerAutoload.php') or exit();

the error it gives is when i run it is

Warning: require_once(1) [function.require-once]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/maxsell/public_html/php/gmail.php on line 11

Fatal error: require_once() [function.require]: Failed opening required '1' (include_path='/home/maxsell/php:.:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php') in /home/maxsell/public_html/php/gmail.php on line 11

and if i click on [function.require-once] it loads

The requested URL /php/function.require-once was not found on this server.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

I made this in our other website and it worked there. I tried changing file path in require_once but it doesn't work. gmail.php and PHPMailerAutoload.php is in the same folder.

edit: here is a directory contents directory contents

Solution

  • The problem is the or exit()-part.

    when i use

    require_once("test.php") or exit();

    i get the same error, but

    require_once("test.php");

    works if the file exists, or throws a correct error if it doesn't.

    also, the common syntax is

    require_once "test.php";

    and the or exit() part is superfluous anyway, since require quits the script itself if the file is not found.

    edit:

    after some testing i suspect that the internal workings of this curious error is that require_once is not a function but a command structure, meaning that

    require_once('PHPMailerAutoload.php') or exit();

    is functionally the same as

    require_once ('PHPMailerAutoload.php' or exit());

    since the or-operator takes precedence.

    which makes your require fail because ('PHPMailerAutoload.php' or exit()) resolves to true, effectively making php try to require(true) which must fail.