How to find absolute path of file using PHP

Last updated on February 13th, 2022 at 07:37 pm

The absolute path for a file or directory is not the same as the URI. The absolute path on the web server is /home/DIR/Xs/something/mydir/.

Here is how to find the absolute path on your web host for a given directory if you can’t find it, or it isn’t shown, in your web hosts control panel.

 <?php
 $getPath = getcwd();
 echo $getPath;
 ?>

1. Copy and paste the above code into a text file (take out the space between the less than sign and the question mark):

2. Save the file as a PHP file, say  abspath.php
3. Upload the file into the root directory, or a sub-directory, of your website.
4. In your web browser, go to  http://www.mysite/abspath.php  (or wherever you saved the file to)