title: Using file_exists with safe_mode enabled
body: <p>I am trying to check if a file exists on the server. The difficulty that I am having is that <code>file_exists</code> returns false for a file that I know exists on the server.</p>
  
  <p>My server is configured with<code>safe_mode = on</code> in php.ini.  Because of this I've added the directory that contains the file I want to check on using </p>
  
  <pre><code>include_path=".:/path/to/dir"
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I've also added the path to </p>
  
  <pre><code>safe_mode_include_dir = /path/to/dir
  </code></pre>
  
  <p><code>file_exists("/path/to/dir/file")</code> still returns FALSE.</p>
  
  <p>Thanks in advance</p>