Is php's 'include' a function or a statement?

Question

There are plenty of examples of both on the web. The php manual says \"The include() statement [...]\", which seems contradictory - if it\'s a statement shouldn\'t it not ha

Answer 1

include, require, echo, print, and a handful of other keywords are language constructs on their own, rather than function calls, and do not need parentheses. However, some people like to pretend they're function calls and use parentheses anyway. They are identical.