How to require() a variable?

Hi hveld,

Well.  The goal is parsing the php code.  Right now it is in a string, but you want it to actually be read by the server.
The problem is require and include functions all take files as objects.

I finally found something that will work!!! eval()
http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.eval.php

The php.net docs say:
"eval() evaluates the string given in code_str as PHP code. Among other things, this can be useful for storing code in a database text field for later execution."

How perfect is that!
Joe P

Whoops like like I was a little late!
All points can go to gamebits, I was 4 minutes behind him =)
Joe P

That is a strange approach indeed. Be careful if any of the code you eval() is dynamic, especially if it's user input. Evaluating code when you don't know exactly what's there can be a big security problem.

If there is not too much code in the DB, you might want to extract it from the DB and put it in php files. It is easier to edit if you want to change it and it is safer (see nicholassolutions comment)

Thanks for the replies.

eval() does not seem to work.
If I have a simple snippet like <? echo "hello world"; ?>
, read it to a variable and then eval() the variable, it doesn't work.

On the other hand, if I have a file with a content <? echo "hello world"; ?>
and require() this file, it works OK. So with eval() I can't achieve the same functionality as with require().

Putting DB data into files is not really an option for now, requires too many changes. I may think of this later when I get to know the system better and have time.
As for the security - I understand this, but doing what I want(if possible at all) will not decrease the current security.  

Does this work?
$str = 'echo "Hello world"';
eval($str);
That is without the <?php ?> marks.

If that works you could then remove all of the opening and closing php tags before sending it through eval() or modify what is in the database, remove the tags by updating the code to the new, working format.

Joe P

I can not just remove <? ?> because there are snippets with mixed php + client-side html - removing <? ?> from them will result in invalid code.

I know all this is very inefficient, and asked this question in an attempt to improve the efficiency a bit without massive modifications.

My idea was to somehow require() a variable as if it's some sort of a virtual file, thus keeping all the operations in the memory and avoiding file i/o. This should be better than the current approach. If I can somehow use eval() , but for all the snippets without modifying them, this should still be better than the current approach.

I guess my last code snippet did the trick since hveld did not reply anymore after that...
Gamebits came up with the eval() solution and nicholassolutions added some security warnings when using eval.
So I propose a points split bewteen us...

I agree

What do you think, BogoJoker?

I think we all came up with the same answers, and expanded on it.
1. eval() was correct to use
2. he needed to remove <?php ?> tags
3. ways to remove the php tags were provided

I don't mind where the points go.
Joe P