Retrieve WordPress root directory path?

Question

How can I retrieve the path to the root directory in WordPress CMS?

Answer 1

Note: This answer is really old and things may have changed in WordPress land since.

I am guessing that you need to detect the WordPress root from your plugin or theme. I use the following code in FireStats to detect the root WordPress directory where FireStats is installed a a WordPress plugin.

function fs_get_wp_config_path()
{
    $base = dirname(__FILE__);
    $path = false;

    if (@file_exists(dirname(dirname($base))."/wp-config.php"))
    {
        $path = dirname(dirname($base))."/wp-config.php";
    }
    else
    if (@file_exists(dirname(dirname(dirname($base)))."/wp-config.php"))
    {
        $path = dirname(dirname(dirname($base)))."/wp-config.php";
    }
    else
        $path = false;

    if ($path != false)
    {
        $path = str_replace("\\", "/", $path);
    }
    return $path;
}