The simplest way to require/include wp-load.php

If you want to use WordPress functionality in a PHP file that exists outside of your WordPress installation then you need to include wp-load.php. Perhaps you could call this “hooking into WordPress”.

Maybe you’re already using some sort of relative path method, like:

<?php include '../../../wp-load.php'; ?>

But this can create problems if directories change. You need a clean, dynamic way to get wp-load.php. So here is the simplest way to do it, with just two lines of code (place it at the very top of your file):

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<?php   $parse_uri = explode( 'wp-content', $_SERVER['SCRIPT_FILENAME'] ); require_once( $parse_uri[0] . 'wp-load.php' );   ?>

Short and sweet 

Disclaimer: This is intended for experimental and development purposes only. It is not advised to redundantly load WordPress on live production environments. But, why?

http://frankiejarrett.com/the-simplest-way-to-require-include-wp-load-php/