After upgrading from PHP 4.1.1 (Apache 1.3.x) to PHP 4.2.3 (Apache 2.0.42), file_exists() obviously changed its behaviour: it does no longer find files in the current directory. I need to supply the full path. I use the same php.ini, and I did not find any hints in the ChangeLog, so I presume this is a bug. The current directory '.' is in the include path, and require() as well as include() work. I am not using safe mode.

Example:

if(file_exists("functions.inc.php")) {
        include_once("functions.inc.php");
}
else die ("File not found");

does not work, whereas

if(file_exists(getcwd()."/functions.inc.php")) {
        include_once("functions.inc.php");
}
else die ("File not found");

works. Note that it is not necessary to specify the full path in include_once()! Also require("functions.inc.php") would work as expected.

If you should have a work around or a fix, please let me know.