Accessing Files Outside The Document Root

Is their a $_SERVER variable that returns the path just above your document root? I'm thinking about putting my include files outside of my root folder, but I want to avoid going up (../) a directory each time I need a file. I checked PHP's $_SERVER documentation, but if there is a superglobal to accomplish this, I didn't realize what they were saying.

I don't think there is a global variable that contains that information. You might be able to use php define (http://php.net/manual/en/function.define.php) and then put the needed path there and then call it when you need it. Just a suggestion.