Introduction to PHP for Beginners
1. What is PHP?
PHP, which stands for Hypertext Preprocessor, is a server-side scripting language that is widely used for web development. It allows developers to create dynamic web pages and interact with databases to display content on the fly. Originally created by Rasmus Lerdorf in 1993, PHP has since become one of the most popular languages for web development, powering major platforms like WordPress, Facebook, and Wikipedia.
Despite the rise of other programming languages, PHP is still a powerful and reliable option for building dynamic websites, especially when combined with other tools and frameworks like MySQL and Laravel.
2. Setting Up PHP on Your Local Machine
Before you can start writing PHP, you need to set it up on your local machine. Fortunately, there are easy-to-install packages like XAMPP and MAMP that bundle PHP, MySQL, and Apache together in one package.
Steps for Installation (Using XAMPP as an example):
- Download XAMPP from the official website: https://www.apachefriends.org/index.html
- Install it and launch the XAMPP Control Panel.
- Start the Apache server (this is your local web server) and MySQL (if you plan to work with databases).
- Open a web browser and go to
http://localhost/. If you see the XAMPP welcome page, you’ve successfully set up PHP!
Verifying PHP Installation:
To make sure PHP is installed correctly, create a new file in the htdocs directory (found in the XAMPP installation folder) and name it info.php. Inside this file, write the following code:
<?php
phpinfo();
?>
Now, open your browser and visit http://localhost/info.php. If you see a page full of PHP configuration details, it means everything is set up properly!
Your First PHP Script
PHP scripts are typically embedded into HTML. Here’s a simple PHP script that displays "Hello, World!" on your webpage:
<?php
echo "Hello, World!";
?>
Save this as hello.php in the htdocs directory and visit http://localhost/hello.php to see the output. Congratulations, you’ve just written your first PHP script!