Example of PHP return on include, nice feature.

app.php

<?php

$data = include __DIR__.'/data.php';

var_dump($data);

data.php

<?php

$info = "Data string";

return $info;

Often used for configuration files

return array(
    'foo' => 'bar',
);

Then in your system you just make a simple wrapper

function config($file = 'default')
{
    static $config = null;

    if(empty($config[$file])) {
        $config[$file] = (object) require('config/' . $file . '.php');
    }

    return $config[$file];
}

Call it anywhere in your code

print config()->foo; // prints bar
print config('db')->username;

Good point, I also find this feature very useful for configuration purposes, instead of doing file include and expecting some variable to be defined.