php includes in header and footer templates of public pages

My site uses php includes and I was wondering if it is possible to use php includes within the templates for the public pages in the configuration menu, or on the subscribe pages?
It seems like it should, but when I included this line:
<php>
It didn't include anything and the above line is visible when I look at the page source. Advice?
It seems like the script isn't even trying to execute, since require should theoretically return an error.
It seems like it should, but when I included this line:
<php>
It didn't include anything and the above line is visible when I look at the page source. Advice?
It seems like the script isn't even trying to execute, since require should theoretically return an error.