# Includes

An include directive allows you to include the entire contents of one restructured text file directly into another.
This is the easiest way to control content re-use.

When given an absolute path, the directive takes it as relative to the root of the source directory.
It is ScyllaDB practice to place global include files in the *rst_include* directory.

For example, here are some very commonly used include statements:

```none
.. include:: /rst_include/scylla-commands-stop-index.rst
```

```none
.. include:: /rst_include/scylla-commands-start-index.rst
```

```none
.. include:: /rst_include/scylla-commands-restart-index.rst
```

## Literal include

If the file you want to include is **not** restructuredText, you can use the Literal Include directive. This adds the page cited as a code-block.

For example:

```none
.. literalinclude:: ../conf.py
   :lines: 1-10
```

Gets the `conf.py` file from the parent directory and displays the first 10 lines.

```default
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
import os
import sys
import warnings
from datetime import date

from sphinx_scylladb_theme.utils import multiversion_regex_builder

sys.path.insert(0, os.path.abspath(".."))
sys.path.insert(0, os.path.abspath("."))
```