# Asterisk Project : Include Statements Basics

Added by malcolmd , edited by lmadsen on Feb 24, 2011

To set the stage for our explanation of include statements, let's say that we want to organize our dialplan and create a new context called [docs:features]. We'll leave our extensions 6001 and 6002 for Alice and Bob in the [docs:users] context, and place extensions such as 6500 in the new [docs:features] context. When calls come into the users context and doesn't find a matching extension, the include statement tells Asterisk to also look in the new [docs:features] context.

The syntax for an include statement is very simple. You simply write include => and then the name of the context you'd like to include from the existing context. If we reorganize our dialplan to add a ﻿[docs:features] context, it might look something like this:

    [users]
    include => features

    exten => 6001,1,Dial(SIP/demo-alice,20)
       same => n,VoiceMail(6001@vm-demo,u)

    exten => 6002,1,Dial(SIP/demo-bob,20)
       same => n,VoiceMail(6002@vm-demo,u)

    [features]
    exten => 6000,1,Answer(500)
       same => n,Playback(hello-world)
       same => n,Hangup()

    exten => 6500,1,Answer(500)
       same => n,VoiceMailMain(@vm-demo)

Location of Include Statements

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Please note that in the example above, we placed the include statement before extensions 6001 and 6002. It could have just as well come after. Asterisk will always try to find a matching extension in the current context first, and only follow the include statement to a new context if there isn't anything that matches in the current context.