CodeIgniter comes with an "Auto-load" feature that permits libraries, helpers, and models to be initialized automatically every time the system runs. If you need certain resources globally throughout your application you should consider auto-loading them for convenience.
The following items can be loaded automatically:
- Core classes found in the "libraries" folder
- Helper files found in the "helpers" folder
- Custom config files found in the "config" folder
- Language files found in the "system/language" folder
- Models found in the "models" folder
- Any arbitrary PHP files in any folders on your system
To autoload resources, open the application/config/autoload.php file and add the item you want loaded to the autoload array. You'll find instructions in that file corresponding to each type of item.
Note
Do not include the file extension (.php) when adding items to the autoload array.
CodeIgniter also permits you to load any arbitrary PHP files in folders accessible on your system. This allows you to extend CodeIgniter out of the standard set of models, libraries and helper files. The directories autoload array can take any patterns that glob() will match, so you can get quite specific.