get_header, locate_template and load_template

general-template.php

<?php

//..

function get_header( $name = null ) {
	do_action( 'get_header', $name );

	$templates = array();
	if ( isset($name) )
		$templates[] = "header-{$name}.php";

	$templates[] = 'header.php';

	// Backward compat code will be removed in a future release
	if ('' == locate_template($templates, true))
		load_template( ABSPATH . WPINC . '/theme-compat/header.php');
}


function locate_template($template_names, $load = false, $require_once = true ) {
	$located = '';
	foreach ( (array) $template_names as $template_name ) {
		if ( !$template_name )
			continue;
		if ( file_exists(STYLESHEETPATH . '/' . $template_name)) {
			$located = STYLESHEETPATH . '/' . $template_name;
			break;
		} else if ( file_exists(TEMPLATEPATH . '/' . $template_name) ) {
			$located = TEMPLATEPATH . '/' . $template_name;
			break;
		}
	}

	if ( $load && '' != $located )
		load_template( $located, $require_once );

	return $located;
}

function load_template( $_template_file, $require_once = true ) {
	global $posts, $post, $wp_did_header, $wp_did_template_redirect, $wp_query, $wp_rewrite, $wpdb, $wp_version, $wp, $id, $comment, $user_ID;

	if ( is_array( $wp_query->query_vars ) )
		extract( $wp_query->query_vars, EXTR_SKIP );

	if ( $require_once )
		require_once( $_template_file );
	else
		require( $_template_file );
}