ABSPATH or __FILE__?
For my own projects I would choose dirname(__FILE__)
, also there is a new constant in PHP:
__DIR__ === dirname(__FILE__)
I would personally prefer dirname()
as it is always guaranteed to give me the correct result, while the ABSPATH method relies on a fixed theme path and theme name that can both change.
By the way, you can use __DIR__
instead of dirname(__FILE__)
.
- The path to the "wp-content" directory and its subdirectories can be different in a particular WordPress installation. Also, using the WordPress internal constants (such as
ABSPATH
) is not recommended. See the Determining Plugin and Content Directories WordPress Codex article. Since PHP 4.0.2, symlinks are being resolved for the
__FILE__
and__DIR__
magic constants, so take that into account.Bottom line: To determine the absolute path to a theme directory, I would suggest to use the
get_template_directory()
function which also applies filters and internally combinesget_theme_root()
andget_template()
.