I am a new starter. Who can tell me what is PHP?

PHP is a popular programming and scripting language created to add dynamic functionality to websites and to provide a way for websites which use a web-based database to store and retrieve information remotely.

PHP syntaxes always start with:


And end with:


PHP files have a file extension of .php, .php3, .php4, .php5 - or, if you would like to create a PHP file in which the information is not processed, and the source code displayed, simply change the file extension to .phps

If you would like to display certain information, use the echo function.



will display:



For more info and examples, go to http://www.w3schools.com/php/

PHP is a server side scripting language, it's like javascript but the only diffrence between them is that javascript is a client side language. Server side means the code is executed on the server the the output is sent to the browser, so no one sees your source code. Client side means that the code is executed by the browser, so the code can be seen by everyoone.

If you want to learn php just go to w3schools.org and read the lessons they have over there, if you already know another programming language like me, it will be very easy and you will be writing php code in no time.

You can't test your php code just by opening it in the browser, you have to either uploaded it to a hosting account or install a webserver on your pc ( IIS or Apache) if you understood what server side means you'll know why.

Just as a bit of trivia, PHP is an endless acronym, as it stands for 'PHP Hypertext Preprocessor'.

Yes but I believe the PHP in PHP does not stand for PHP Hypertext Preprocessor, if I recall it stands for 'Personal Home Page', so the full length acronym would be "Personal Home Page Hypertext Preprocessor".

PHP = PHP Hypertext Preprocessor..

It is a language which is free to use... i think.. but powerful.. Using PHP, you can create websites, backends for your websites or we can call it CMS.. The popularity of PHP is increasing because of its expanding usage..

as everyone almost exlained more or less things about php. I will say this. It is languuage or script that is executed on the server instead of the browser this way yuou can implement many nice features like dynamic websites and so on. It is really easy for use howeveer some features I personally dislike very very much. Such as that php is not type strict language and this leads to many mistakes however on the other hand I like arrays and way they were implemented in the php it is really helpful.

Also I'd like to suggest book php and mysql from the o'reilly this is really good puclisher and you should lear mysql because it will help you much as it is database language and you can male even better sites with it and many many more things. Good luck.

P.S. just for the end php doesn;t have to be used for site programming you can use it as any other language if you run it in the console.

PHP is basically a server-side scripting language which allows you to add dynamic content to your website. It makes the server complete all the calculations of your code allowing you to add features to your site like the time, math functions, database connectivity and much more. Combined with html and css and you have yourself the best weapon on the web. A great coder can effectively utilize all three if not 5 or more languages on a page while keeping it xhtml/css strict. Good luck in your web development!