PHP Include Files Security

[olddocks]

what is the safe way to place include files in your site? normally i place all the include files under includes folder inside public_html

is this the safe way to do it?

[assimlation]

it is safe if all the data is public data, however if you'd like to restrict outside access to the data you could put it below the public_html directory and still apply it using include statements for your site..