Sorry, I didn't say that right. I was just referring to using it with an ini file, like an include. As I am a newbie to php I jumped in over my head. I think I will regress and stick to lurking. Since I did post I will add my two cents, It looks like zend_registry is just an alternative to using global variables, but it is just that, an alternative. It allows you to keep your global data in a class that has the scope of a global. Maybe that is what the article is suggesting. In any event I know I am going to learn something of interest here.... back to lurking!