How do I load a PHP file into a variable?

If you are using http://, as eyze suggested, you will only be able to read the ouput of the PHP script. You can only read the PHP script itself if it is on the same server as your running script. You could then use something like

$Vdata = file_get_contents('/path/to/your/file.php");

ob_start();
include "yourfile.php";
$myvar = ob_get_clean();

ob_get_clean()

If your file has a return statement like this:

<?php return array(
  'AF' => 'Afeganistão',
  'ZA' => 'África do Sul',
  ...
  'ZW' => 'Zimbabué'
);

You can get this to a variable like this:

$data = include $filePath;

I suppose you want to get the content generated by PHP, if so use:

$Vdata = file_get_contents('http://YOUR_HOST/YOUR/FILE.php');

Otherwise if you want to get the source code of the PHP file, it's the same as a .txt file:

$Vdata = file_get_contents('path/to/YOUR/FILE.php');