virtual() is an Apache-specific function which is similar to <!--#include virtual...--> in mod_include. It performs an Apache sub-request. It is useful for including CGI scripts or .shtml files, or anything else that you would parse through Apache. Note that for a CGI script, the script must generate valid CGI headers. At the minimum that means it must generate a Content-type header.
To run the sub-request, all buffers are terminated and flushed to the browser, pending headers are sent too.
This function is only supported when PHP is installed as an Apache module.
| Warning |
The query string can be passed to the included file but $_GET is copied from the parent script and only $_SERVER['QUERY_STRING'] is filled with the passed query string. The query string may only be passed when using Apache 2. The requested file will not be listed in the Apache access log. |
Note: Environment variables set in the requested file are not visible to the calling script.
Note: As of PHP 4.3.3 you can use this function with the NSAPI server module in Netscape/iPlanet/SunONE webservers, too.