Server Absolute Referencing

When referencing a file or pix inside an html file, there are absolute references, relative references and server absolute references. I think I am okay with the first two kinds, but have a question about server absolute.

Assume I have a subdomain of the Trap17 named subdomain.
In the subdomain, I have a public_html folder which contains the files accessible from the web, so if in one of those files, lets say it is located in a folder named folder1 and is inside the public-html, I insert a "server absolute reference", does the reference begin at the public_html folder?.



Is this correct? Or does the referencing begin above the public_html folder?

[note=jlhaslip]Edit to insert bbcode[/note]

This post has been edited by jlhaslip: Nov 20 2005, 03:30 AM

I believe that the absolute reference should be starting with the public_html folder, so your code would be correct. Maybe you should do a test to find out...

On Apache servers you can append your path to $_SERVER['docroot'] which equals public_html/folder1/file1 etc for whatever box you're hosted on.

The DocumentRoot directory is where all public content is served from. On a correctly configured, secure and reliable server (such as Apache), it is impossible to access anything at or above the level of that directory. Referencing '/public_html/file' for client-side usage will result in the sever attempting to serve '/your/home/path/public_html/public_html/file', if that makes sense.

When using server-side languages, however - such as PHP - you have to remember that the paths are relative to the server, not the DocumentRoot directory, so '/file' is literally '/file' in the root directory of the current hard disk. When internally referencing other files within a script (such as via PHP's include() or require() functions), you should always prefix it with $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] so as to ensure the correct file is being accessed.

Which is what I just said. It should be pointed out, however, that using $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] is not a reliable method when running PHP on IIS.