PHP

PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor, programming language, scripting language

PHP (recursive acronym for "PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor") is a widely-used Open Source general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for Web development and can be embedded into HTML.

Primary source: www.php.net
Superb companion to MySQL database
See also Server Side Includes (SSI) for other server side technology

A few examples

Hello, World!
(in html-format)
> Execute
(sep. win/tab)

<?php
print "<html><head><title>Hello, World! Script</title></head>\n";
print "<body>\n";
print "<p>Hello, World!</p>\n";
print "</body></html>\n";
?>

Output from phpinfo(1).
A little bit more advanced
example showing some
coding
> Execute
(sep. win/tab)

<?php
ob_start(); // start output buffer, => nothing's displayed until buffer's closed
phpinfo(1); // Show just general information (1)
$php_info .= ob_get_contents();
ob_end_clean();
$php_info = str_replace("</body></html>", "", $php_info);
$offset   = strpos($php_info, "<table");
print substr($php_info, $offset);
?>

Contents

Environment Variables
Problems and Solutions
Testing Scripts
Macintosh Notes
References

Environment Variables

how to get client's IP address in PHP - http://www.phpbuilder.com/board/showthread.php?t=10327697

reserved variables - http://ro.php.net/manual/en/reserved.variables.php

Problems and Solutions

Until further notice, pls see Perl-section for more troubleshooting in general.

php-and-ssi.php - tests

Testing Scripts

Click to see how the web server handles different potential issues, details that may differ on different servers. All opens in a separate window (or tab).

Script	Description
printhello.php	Hello, World! program
phpinfo.php	print lots of info about runtime environment

More extensive tests of scripts are also avaiable in the Perl-section, including one page runni ng a number of scripts (mostly Perl).

Macintosh Notes

PHP is by default NOT enabled; to enable uncomment one line in httpd.conf and restart server:

Default /etc/apache2/httpd.conf (== /private/etc/apache2/httpd.conf)
... # 2008-02-27 Wed: removing preceeding '#' from line below LoadModule php5_module libexec/apache2/libphp5.so ...

References

Mac-specific:
- <none yet>
General: www.php.net
- Documentation: www.php.net/docs.php
PHP Tutorial - Learn PHP: www.tizag.com/phpT
For 10.4, older:
- 10.4: Install Apache2, PHP5, and MySQL5 http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20051214031718251

Updated 2009-01-30