Importing Configuration with imports

By default, service configuration lives in app/config/services.yml. But if that file becomes large, you're free to organize into multiple files. For suppose you decided to move some configuration to a new file:

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# app/config/services/mailer.yml
parameters:
    # ... some parameters

services:
    # ... some services

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<!-- app/config/services/mailer.xml -->
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<container xmlns="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services
        http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services/services-1.0.xsd">

    <parameters>
        <!-- ... some parameters -->
    </parameters>

    <services>
        <!-- ... some services -->
    </services>
</container>

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// app/config/services/mailer.php

// ... some parameters
// ... some services

To import this file, use the imports key from a file that is loaded:

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# app/config/services.yml
imports:
    - { resource: services/mailer.yml }

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<!-- app/config/services.xml -->
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<container xmlns="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services
        http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services/services-1.0.xsd">

    <imports>
        <import resource="services/mailer.xml"/>
    </imports>
</container>

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// app/config/services.php
$loader->import('services/mailer.php');

The resource location, for files, is either a relative path from the current file or an absolute path.

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# app/config/config.yml
imports:
    - { resource: '%kernel.project_dir%/app/parameters.yml' }

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<!-- app/config/config.xml -->
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<container xmlns="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services
        http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services/services-1.0.xsd">

    <imports>
        <import resource="%kernel.project_dir%/app/parameters.yml" />
    </imports>
</container>

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// app/config/config.php
$loader->import('%kernel.project_dir%/app/parameters.yml');

Importing Configuration via Container Extensions

Third-party bundle container configuration, including Symfony core services, are usually loaded using another method: a container extension.

Internally, each bundle defines its services in files like you've seen so far. However, these files aren't imported using the import directive. Instead, bundles use a dependency injection extension to load the files automatically. As soon as you enable a bundle, its extension is called, which is able to load service configuration files.

In fact, each configuration block in config.yml - e.g. framework or twig- is passed to the extension for that bundle - e.g. FrameworkBundle or TwigBundle - and used to configure those services further.

If you want to use dependency injection extensions in your own shared bundles and provide user friendly configuration, take a look at the How to Load Service Configuration inside a Bundle article.