Ways to load template files in WordPress

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The below methods mostly uses get_template_directory() to retrieve the parent theme directory and get_stylesheet_directory() if you are using a child theme and retrieving the  of  child theme directory.

Using include() and require()

These are built-in PHP functions and you can use them to load template files like this. Note that they do not check file existence, and you’ll get an error if the file do not exist.

include( get_template_directory() . '/file.php' );
require( get_template_directory() . '/file.php' );
include( get_stylesheet_directory() . '/file.php' );
require( get_stylesheet_directory() . '/file.php' );
include( get_template_directory() . '/subdir/file.php' );
require( get_template_directory() . '/subdir/file.php' );
include( get_stylesheet_directory() . '/subdir/file.php' );
require( get_stylesheet_directory() . '/subdir/file.php' );

You can also use include_once() and require_once().

Using load_template()

load_template() is a WordPress function that works just like include() and require(). It does not check for file existence as well.

load_template( get_template_directory() . '/file.php' );
load_template( get_stylesheet_directory() . '/file.php' );

Using locate_template()

locate_template() checks for file existence. It searches files in both parent theme and child theme directory, and overloads from the child theme.

locate_template($template_names, $load, $require_once);
  • $template_names can be a single filename or an array of names.
  • $load is a boolean parameter. It defaults to false and when true, the searched file(s) are loaded.
  • $require_once is a boolean parameter and defaults to true – when true, it loads the file using php require_once() function, else it loads using php require().

You can code it like this

locate_template( 'file.php', true );
locate_template( 'subdir/file.php, true );
locate_template( array( 'file1.php', 'file2.php' ), true);

Using get_template_part()

get_template_part() (as of WordPress 3.0) loads a template part into a template (other than header, sidebar, footer). This makes it easier for a theme to reuse sections of code in an easy to overload way if using child themes. This function will load a file named “{slug}-{name}.php”. The $name is optional, and if it’s empty, the function will include file named “{slug}.php”.

get_template_part( $slug, $name );

If you want to load a file named options-general.php, you can code it like this:

get_template_part( 'options', 'general' );

If you want to load from a subdirectory, you can code it like this:

get_template_part( 'subdir/options', 'general' );

Best Practices

Although there are several ways to load files in WordPress, we have to consider carefully which methods are best for particular cases. Considerations might include whether we want to allow child themes to overwrite certain functions etc. Justin Tadlock has written a comprehensive article on how to load files within WordPress themes, and gives ample analysis for best practices.

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