You can use the extract() function
Drupal use it, in its theme() function.
Here it is a render function with a $variables
argument.
function includeWithVariables($filePath, $variables = array(), $print = true)
{
$output = NULL;
if(file_exists($filePath)){
// Extract the variables to a local namespace
extract($variables);
// Start output buffering
ob_start();
// Include the template file
include $filePath;
// End buffering and return its contents
$output = ob_get_clean();
}
if ($print) {
print $output;
}
return $output;
}
./index.php :
includeWithVariables('header.php', array('title' => 'Header Title'));
./header.php :
<h1><?php echo $title; ?></h1>