ExpressionEngine Docs

Path Helper

The Path Helper file contains functions that permits you to work with file paths on the server. This helper is loaded using the following code:

ee()->load->helper('path');

Available Functions

set_realpath($path[, $check_existance = FALSE])

Parameter Type Description
$path String Path
$check_existance Bool Whether to check if the path actually exists
Returns String An absolute path

This function will return a server path without symbolic links or relative directory structures. An optional second argument will cause an error to be triggered if the path cannot be resolved.

Examples:

$file = '/etc/php5/apache2/php.ini';
echo set_realpath($file); // Prints '/etc/php5/apache2/php.ini'

$non_existent_file = '/path/to/non-exist-file.txt';
echo set_realpath($non_existent_file, TRUE);    // Shows an error, as the path cannot be resolved
echo set_realpath($non_existent_file, FALSE);   // Prints '/path/to/non-exist-file.txt'

$directory = '/etc/php5';
echo set_realpath($directory);  // Prints '/etc/php5/'

$non_existent_directory = '/path/to/nowhere';
echo set_realpath($non_existent_directory, TRUE);   // Shows an error, as the path cannot be resolved
echo set_realpath($non_existent_directory, FALSE);  // Prints '/path/to/nowhere'