OK, so my original problem was I was getting a class not found error after including a file that contains my class definition. I have narrowed the problem down, so that if I give a full URL to the class' file, it DOES NOT let me use the class, whereas if I give a relative path to the class' file it WILL let me use the file. e.g In my server structure (say in localhost/FOLDER1/ I have a file ClassA.php and also index.php if in index.php I do [code] include('ClassA.php'); $a = new A; [/code] This works fine, however, if in index.php I do [code] include('http:/localhost/FOLDER1/ClassA.php'); $a = new A; [/code] I get a "class ClassA not found" error. BUT I have put an echo statement in my class' file, and in both cases the file is actually being included as the specific echo is occurring. any ideas ? cheers