5.3. Including Files

Now that you have an idea of how the template hierarchy works and how to use it to your advantage, it’s time to learn another key feature of WordPress themes. You’ve already seen a hint of this if you paid close attention to the list of Thematic’s template files earlier. Some of them, like header.php, aren’t particular to a specific page or type of page on the site. So when and how are they used? As it happens, WordPress provides a group of functions that include various common page components:

• get_header grabs header.php

• get_footer grabs footer.php

• get_sidebar grabs sidebar.php

• get_searchform grabs searchform.php—if this is missing, WordPress simply renders a default search form

• comments_template grabs comments.php