Most CGI, Perl or PHP scripts need to know the location of files to run properly. Sometimes they even need to know where they are located themselves. Here are some common paths and tips about paths for Perl and PHP scripts on AIT’s Fully Managed Linux hosting accounts.
- Absolute Path refers to the complete route to a location on the server itself. Standard Absolute Paths are usually something like ‘/www/htdocs/’, which is the path to your web files, or ‘/www/cgi-bin/’, which is the path to your cgi-bin, where scripts are usually located.
- Most times an absolute path will be asked for when the script needs to find the directory of certain files (READ THE DOCUMENTATION TO BE SURE!).
- URL path refers to something’s location via the WWW. Standard URL paths are something like ‘//www.example.com/’, which is the path to your web site/files, or ‘//www.example.com/cgi-bin/’, which is the path to your cgi-bin via the web.
- Most times an absolute path will be asked for to handle HTML directions and coding.
- A commonly requested path (also required for Perl scripts) is the path to Perl, it is:
- ‘/usr/bin/perl’-or-‘/bin/perl’
- Another commonly requested path is the path to the sendmail program (for mail interfaces), it is:
- ‘/bin/sendmail’
- Lastly, a commonly request path is to the date program (for date and time tracking), it is:
- ‘/bin/date’