Apache 1.3.x on Unix systems

This section contains notes and hints specific to Apache installs of PHP on Unix platforms. We also have instructions and notes for Apache 2 on a separate page.

You can select arguments to add to the configure on line 10 below from the list of core configure options and from extension specific options described at the respective places in the manual. The version numbers have been omitted here, to ensure the instructions are not incorrect. You will need to replace the 'xxx' here with the correct values from your files.

1.  gunzip apache_xxx.tar.gz
2.  tar -xvf apache_xxx.tar
3.  gunzip php-xxx.tar.gz
4.  tar -xvf php-xxx.tar
5.  cd apache_xxx
6.  ./configure --prefix=/www --enable-module=so
7.  make
8.  make install
9.  cd ../php-xxx

10. Now, configure your PHP.  This is where you customize your PHP
    with various options, like which extensions will be enabled.  Do a
    ./configure --help for a list of available options.  In our example
    we'll do a simple configure with Apache 1 and MySQL support.  Your
    path to apxs may differ from our example.

      ./configure --with-mysql --with-apxs=/www/bin/apxs

11. make
12. make install

    If you decide to change your configure options after installation,
    you only need to repeat the last three steps. You only need to 
    restart apache for the new module to take effect. A recompile of
    Apache is not needed.
  
    Note that unless told otherwise, 'make install' will also install PEAR,
    various PHP tools such as phpize, install the PHP CLI, and more.

13. Setup your php.ini file:

      cp php.ini-development /usr/local/lib/php.ini

    You may edit your .ini file to set PHP options.  If you prefer your
    php.ini in another location, use --with-config-file-path=/some/path in
    step 10. 
    
    If you instead choose php.ini-production, be certain to read the list
    of changes within, as they affect how PHP behaves.

14. Edit your httpd.conf to load the PHP module.  The path on the right hand
    side of the LoadModule statement must point to the path of the PHP
    module on your system.  The make install from above may have already
    added this for you, but be sure to check.
        
    For PHP 4:
            
      LoadModule php4_module libexec/libphp4.so

    For PHP 5:
                      
      LoadModule php5_module libexec/libphp5.so
      
15. And in the AddModule section of httpd.conf, somewhere under the
    ClearModuleList, add this:
    
    For PHP 4:
    
      AddModule mod_php4.c
      
    For PHP 5:
    
      AddModule mod_php5.c

16. Tell Apache to parse certain extensions as PHP.  For example,
    let's have Apache parse the .php extension as PHP.  You could
    have any extension(s) parse as PHP by simply adding more, with
    each separated by a space.  We'll add .phtml to demonstrate.

      AddType application/x-httpd-php .php .phtml

    It's also common to setup the .phps extension to show highlighted PHP
    source, this can be done with:
    
      AddType application/x-httpd-php-source .phps

17. Use your normal procedure for starting the Apache server. (You must
    stop and restart the server, not just cause the server to reload by
    using a HUP or USR1 signal.)

Alternatively, to install PHP as a static object:

1.  gunzip -c apache_1.3.x.tar.gz | tar xf -
2.  cd apache_1.3.x
3.  ./configure
4.  cd ..

5.  gunzip -c php-5.x.y.tar.gz | tar xf -
6.  cd php-5.x.y
7.  ./configure --with-mysql --with-apache=../apache_1.3.x
8.  make
9.  make install

10. cd ../apache_1.3.x

11. ./configure --prefix=/www --activate-module=src/modules/php5/libphp5.a
    (The above line is correct! Yes, we know libphp5.a does not exist at this
    stage. It isn't supposed to. It will be created.)

12. make
    (you should now have an httpd binary which you can copy to your Apache bin dir if
    it is your first install then you need to "make install" as well)

13. cd ../php-5.x.y
14. cp php.ini-development /usr/local/lib/php.ini

15. You can edit /usr/local/lib/php.ini file to set PHP options.
    Edit your httpd.conf or srm.conf file and add:
    AddType application/x-httpd-php .php

Note: Replace php-5 by php-4 and php5 by php4 in PHP 4.

Depending on your Apache install and Unix variant, there are many possible ways to stop and restart the server. Below are some typical lines used in restarting the server, for different apache/unix installations. You should replace /path/to/ with the path to these applications on your systems.

1. Several Linux and SysV variants:
/etc/rc.d/init.d/httpd restart

2. Using apachectl scripts:
/path/to/apachectl stop
/path/to/apachectl start

3. httpdctl and httpsdctl (Using OpenSSL), similar to apachectl:
/path/to/httpsdctl stop
/path/to/httpsdctl start

4. Using mod_ssl, or another SSL server, you may want to manually
stop and start:
/path/to/apachectl stop
/path/to/apachectl startssl

The locations of the apachectl and http(s)dctl binaries often vary. If your system has locate or whereis or which commands, these can assist you in finding your server control programs.

Different examples of compiling PHP for apache are as follows:

./configure --with-apxs --with-pgsql

This will create a libphp5.so (or libphp4.so in PHP 4) shared library that is loaded into Apache using a LoadModule line in Apache's httpd.conf file. The PostgreSQL support is embedded into this library.

./configure --with-apxs --with-pgsql=shared

This will create a libphp4.so shared library for Apache, but it will also create a pgsql.so shared library that is loaded into PHP either by using the extension directive in php.ini file or by loading it explicitly in a script using the dl() function.

./configure --with-apache=/path/to/apache_source --with-pgsql

This will create a libmodphp5.a library, a mod_php5.c and some accompanying files and copy this into the src/modules/php5 directory in the Apache source tree. Then you compile Apache using --activate-module=src/modules/php5/libphp5.a and the Apache build system will create libphp5.a and link it statically into the httpd binary (replace php5 by php4 in PHP 4). The PostgreSQL support is included directly into this httpd binary, so the final result here is a single httpd binary that includes all of Apache and all of PHP.

./configure --with-apache=/path/to/apache_source --with-pgsql=shared

Same as before, except instead of including PostgreSQL support directly into the final httpd you will get a pgsql.so shared library that you can load into PHP from either the php.ini file or directly using dl().

When choosing to build PHP in different ways, you should consider the advantages and drawbacks of each method. Building as a shared object will mean that you can compile apache separately, and don't have to recompile everything as you add to, or change, PHP. Building PHP into apache (static method) means that PHP will load and run faster. For more information, see the Apache » web page on DSO support.

Note: Apache's default httpd.conf currently ships with a section that looks like this:

User nobody
Group "#-1"

Unless you change that to "Group nogroup" or something like that ("Group daemon" is also very common) PHP will not be able to open files.

Note: Make sure you specify the installed version of apxs when using --with-apxs=/path/to/apxs. You must NOT use the apxs version that is in the apache sources but the one that is actually installed on your system.

Apache 2.x on Unix systems

This section contains notes and hints specific to Apache 2.x installs of PHP on Unix systems.

The » Apache Documentation is the most authoritative source of information on the Apache 2.x server. More information about installation options for Apache may be found there.

Note: PHP and Apache 2.0.x compatibility notes
The following versions of PHP are known to work with the most recent version of Apache 2.0.x:

• PHP 4.3.0 or later available at » http://www.php.net/downloads.php.
• the latest stable development version. Get the source code » http://snaps.php.net/php5-latest.tar.gz or download binaries for Windows » http://snaps.php.net/win32/php5-win32-latest.zip.
• a prerelease version downloadable from » http://qa.php.net/.
• you have always the option to obtain PHP through » anonymous SVN.

These versions of PHP are compatible to Apache 2.0.40 and later.
Apache 2.0 SAPI-support started with PHP 4.2.0. PHP 4.2.3 works with Apache 2.0.39, don't use any other version of Apache with PHP 4.2.3. However, the recommended setup is to use PHP 4.3.0 or later with the most recent version of Apache2.
All mentioned versions of PHP will work still with Apache 1.3.x.

The most receive version of Apache HTTP Server may be obtained from » Apache download site, and a fitting PHP version from the above mentioned places. This quick guide covers only the basics to get started with Apache 2.x and PHP. For more information read the » Apache Documentation. The version numbers have been omitted here, to ensure the instructions are not incorrect. In the examples below, 'NN' should be replaced with the specific version of Apache being used.

There are currently two versions of Apache 2.x - there's 2.0 and 2.2. While there are various reasons for choosing each, 2.2 is the current latest version, and the one that is recommended, if that option is available to you. However, the instructions here will work for either 2.0 or 2.2.

1.  gzip -d httpd-2_x_NN.tar.gz
2.  tar xvf httpd-2_x_NN.tar
3.  gunzip php-NN.tar.gz
4.  tar -xvf php-NN.tar
5.  cd httpd-2_x_NN
6.  ./configure --enable-so
7.  make
8.  make install

    Now you have Apache 2.x.NN available under /usr/local/apache2,
    configured with loadable module support and the standard MPM prefork.
    To test the installation use your normal procedure for starting
    the Apache server, e.g.:
    /usr/local/apache2/bin/apachectl start
    and stop the server to go on with the configuration for PHP:
    /usr/local/apache2/bin/apachectl stop.

9.  cd ../php-NN

10. Now, configure your PHP.  This is where you customize your PHP
    with various options, like which extensions will be enabled.  Do a
    ./configure --help for a list of available options.  In our example
    we'll do a simple configure with Apache 2 and MySQL support.  Your
    path to apxs may differ, in fact, the binary may even be named apxs2 on
    your system. 
    
      ./configure --with-apxs2=/usr/local/apache2/bin/apxs --with-mysql

11. make
12. make install

    If you decide to change your configure options after installation,
    you only need to repeat the last three steps. You only need to
    restart apache for the new module to take effect. A recompile of
    Apache is not needed.
                
    Note that unless told otherwise, 'make install' will also install PEAR,
    various PHP tools such as phpize, install the PHP CLI, and more.
    
13. Setup your php.ini 
    
    cp php.ini-development /usr/local/lib/php.ini
          
    You may edit your .ini file to set PHP options.  If you prefer having
    php.ini in another location, use --with-config-file-path=/some/path in
    step 10.
    
    If you instead choose php.ini-production, be certain to read the list
    of changes within, as they affect how PHP behaves.

14. Edit your httpd.conf to load the PHP module.  The path on the right hand
    side of the LoadModule statement must point to the path of the PHP
    module on your system.  The make install from above may have already
    added this for you, but be sure to check.

      LoadModule php5_module modules/libphp5.so
 
15. Tell Apache to parse certain extensions as PHP.  For example, let's have
    Apache parse .php files as PHP.  Instead of only using the Apache AddType
    directive, we want to avoid potentially dangerous uploads and created
    files such as exploit.php.jpg from being executed as PHP.  Using this
    example, you could have any extension(s) parse as PHP by simply adding
    them.  We'll add .phtml to demonstrate.
            
      <FilesMatch \.php$>
          SetHandler application/x-httpd-php
      </FilesMatch>

    Or, if we wanted to allow .php, .php2, .php3, .php4, .php5, .php6, and
    .phtml files to be executed as PHP, but nothing else, we'd use this:

      <FilesMatch "\.ph(p[2-6]?|tml)$">
          SetHandler application/x-httpd-php
      </FilesMatch>
    
    And to allow .phps files to be handled by the php source filter, and
    displayed as syntax-highlighted source code, use this:

      <FilesMatch "\.phps$">
          SetHandler application/x-httpd-php-source
      </FilesMatch>

    mod_rewrite may be used To allow any arbitrary .php file to be displayed 
    as syntax-highlighted source code, without having to rename or copy it 
    to a .phps file:

      RewriteEngine On
      RewriteRule (.*\.php)s$ $1 [H=application/x-httpd-php-source]

    The php source filter should not be enabled on production systems, where
    it may expose confidential or otherwise sensitive information embedded in
    source code.

16. Use your normal procedure for starting the Apache server, e.g.:
   
      /usr/local/apache2/bin/apachectl start

          - OR -

      service httpd restart
   

Following the steps above you will have a running Apache2 web server with support for PHP as a SAPI module. Of course there are many more configuration options available Apache and PHP. For more information type ./configure --help in the corresponding source tree.

Apache may be built multithreaded by selecting the worker MPM, rather than the standard prefork MPM, when Apache is built. This is done by adding the following option to the argument passed to ./configure, in step 6 above:

This should not be undertaken without being aware of the consequences of this decision, and having at least a fair understanding of the implications. The Apache documentation regarding » MPM-Modules discusses MPMs in a great deal more detail.

Note: The Apache MultiViews FAQ discusses using multiviews with PHP.

Note: To build a multithreaded version of Apache, the target system must support threads. In this case, PHP should also be built with experimental Zend Thread Safety (ZTS). Under this configuration, not all extensions will be available. The recommended setup is to build Apache with the default prefork MPM-Module.

Lighttpd 1.4 on Unix systems

This section contains notes and hints specific to Lighttpd 1.4 installs of PHP on Unix systems.

Please use the » Lighttpd trac to learn how to install Lighttpd properly before continuing.

Fastcgi is the preferred SAPI to connect PHP and Lighttpd. Fastcgi is automagically enabled in php-cgi in PHP 5.3, but for older versions configure PHP with --enable-fastcgi. To confirm that PHP has fastcgi enabled, php -v should contain PHP 5.2.5 (cgi-fcgi) Before PHP 5.2.3, fastcgi was enabled on the php binary (there was no php-cgi).

server.modules += ( "mod_fastcgi" )

fastcgi.server = ( ".php" =>
  ((
    "socket" => "/tmp/php.socket",
    "bin-path" => "/usr/local/bin/php-cgi",
    "bin-environment" => (
      "PHP_FCGI_CHILDREN" => "16",
      "PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS" => "10000"
    ),
    "min-procs" => 1,
    "max-procs" => 1,
    "idle-timeout" => 20
  ))
)

#!/bin/sh

# Location of the php-cgi binary
PHP=/usr/local/bin/php-cgi

# PID File location
PHP_PID=/tmp/php.pid

# Binding to an address
#FCGI_BIND_ADDRESS=10.0.1.1:10000
# Binding to a domain socket
FCGI_BIND_ADDRESS=/tmp/php.sock

PHP_FCGI_CHILDREN=16
PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS=10000

env -i PHP_FCGI_CHILDREN=$PHP_FCGI_CHILDREN \
       PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS=$PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS \
       $PHP -b $FCGI_BIND_ADDRESS &

echo $! > "$PHP_PID"

fastcgi.server = ( ".php" =>
   (( "host" => "10.0.0.2", "port" => 1030 ),
    ( "host" => "10.0.0.3", "port" => 1030 ))
)

Caudium

PHP can be built as a Pike module for the » Caudium webserver. Follow the simple instructions below to install PHP for Caudium.

1.  Make sure you have Caudium installed prior to attempting to
    install PHP 4. For PHP 4 to work correctly, you will need Pike
    7.0.268 or newer. For the sake of this example we assume that
    Caudium is installed in /opt/caudium/server/.
2.  Change directory to php-x.y.z (where x.y.z is the version number).
3.  ./configure --with-caudium=/opt/caudium/server
4.  make
5.  make install
6.  Restart Caudium if it's currently running.
7.  Log into the graphical configuration interface and go to the
    virtual server where you want to add PHP 4 support.
8.  Click Add Module and locate and then add the PHP 4 Script Support module.
9.  If the documentation says that the 'PHP 4 interpreter isn't
    available', make sure that you restarted the server. If you did
    check /opt/caudium/logs/debug/default.1 for any errors related to
    PHP4.so. Also make sure that 
    caudium/server/lib/[pike-version]/PHP4.so
    is present.
10. Configure the PHP Script Support module if needed.

You can of course compile your Caudium module with support for the various extensions available in PHP 4. See the reference pages for extension specific configure options.

Note: When compiling PHP 4 with MySQL support you must make sure that the normal MySQL client code is used. Otherwise there might be conflicts if your Pike already has MySQL support. You do this by specifying a MySQL install directory the --with-mysql option.

fhttpd related notes

To build PHP as an fhttpd module, answer "yes" to "Build as an fhttpd module?" (the --with-fhttpd=DIR option to configure) and specify the fhttpd source base directory. The default directory is /usr/local/src/fhttpd. If you are running fhttpd, building PHP as a module will give better performance, more control and remote execution capability.

Note: Support for fhttpd is no longer available as of PHP 4.3.0.

Sun, iPlanet and Netscape servers on Sun Solaris

This section contains notes and hints specific to Sun Java System Web Server, Sun ONE Web Server, iPlanet and Netscape server installs of PHP on Sun Solaris.

From PHP 4.3.3 on you can use PHP scripts with the NSAPI module to generate custom directory listings and error pages. Additional functions for Apache compatibility are also available. For support in current web servers read the note about subrequests.

You can find more information about setting up PHP for the Netscape Enterprise Server (NES) here: » http://benoit.noss.free.fr/php/install-php4.html

To build PHP with Sun JSWS/Sun ONE WS/iPlanet/Netscape web servers, enter the proper install directory for the --with-nsapi=[DIR] option. The default directory is usually /opt/netscape/suitespot/. Please also read /php-xxx-version/sapi/nsapi/nsapi-readme.txt.

1. Install the following packages from » http://www.sunfreeware.com/ or another download site:

   • autoconf-2.13
   • automake-1.4
   • bison-1_25-sol26-sparc-local
   • flex-2_5_4a-sol26-sparc-local
   • gcc-2_95_2-sol26-sparc-local
   • gzip-1.2.4-sol26-sparc-local
   • m4-1_4-sol26-sparc-local
   • make-3_76_1-sol26-sparc-local
   • mysql-3.23.24-beta (if you want mysql support)
   • perl-5_005_03-sol26-sparc-local
   • tar-1.13 (GNU tar)

2. Make sure your path includes the proper directories PATH=.:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/ccs/bin and make it available to your system export PATH .
3. gunzip php-x.x.x.tar.gz (if you have a .gz dist, otherwise go to 4).
4. tar xvf php-x.x.x.tar
5. Change to your extracted PHP directory: cd ../php-x.x.x

6. For the following step, make sure /opt/netscape/suitespot/ is where your netscape server is installed. Otherwise, change to the correct path and run:

   ./configure --with-mysql=/usr/local/mysql \
   --with-nsapi=/opt/netscape/suitespot/ \
   --enable-libgcc

7. Run make followed by make install.

After performing the base install and reading the appropriate readme file, you may need to perform some additional configuration steps.

Configuration Instructions for Sun/iPlanet/Netscape

Firstly you may need to add some paths to the LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment for the server to find all the shared libs. This can best done in the start script for your web server. The start script is often located in: /path/to/server/https-servername/start. You may also need to edit the configuration files that are located in: /path/to/server/https-servername/config/.

1. Add the following line to mime.types (you can do that by the administration server):

   type=magnus-internal/x-httpd-php exts=php
   

2. Edit magnus.conf (for servers >= 6) or obj.conf (for servers < 6) and add the following, shlib will vary depending on your system, it will be something like /opt/netscape/suitespot/bin/libphp4.so. You should place the following lines after mime types init.

   Init fn="load-modules" funcs="php4_init,php4_execute,php4_auth_trans" shlib="/opt/netscape/suitespot/bin/libphp4.so"
   Init fn="php4_init" LateInit="yes" errorString="Failed to initialize PHP!" [php_ini="/path/to/php.ini"]
   

   (PHP >= 4.3.3) The php_ini parameter is optional but with it you can place your php.ini in your web server config directory.

3. Configure the default object in obj.conf (for virtual server classes [version 6.0+] in their vserver.obj.conf):

   <Object name="default">
   .
   .
   .
   .#NOTE this next line should happen after all 'ObjectType' and before all 'AddLog' lines
   Service fn="php4_execute" type="magnus-internal/x-httpd-php" [inikey=value inikey=value ...]
   .
   .
   </Object>
   

   (PHP >= 4.3.3) As additional parameters you can add some special php.ini-values, for example you can set a docroot="/path/to/docroot" specific to the context php4_execute is called. For boolean ini-keys please use 0/1 as value, not "On","Off",... (this will not work correctly), e.g. zlib.output_compression=1 instead of zlib.output_compression="On"

4. This is only needed if you want to configure a directory that only consists of PHP scripts (same like a cgi-bin directory):

   <Object name="x-httpd-php">
   ObjectType fn="force-type" type="magnus-internal/x-httpd-php"
   Service fn=php4_execute [inikey=value inikey=value ...]
   </Object>
   

   After that you can configure a directory in the Administration server and assign it the style x-httpd-php. All files in it will get executed as PHP. This is nice to hide PHP usage by renaming files to .html.

5. Setup of authentication: PHP authentication cannot be used with any other authentication. ALL AUTHENTICATION IS PASSED TO YOUR PHP SCRIPT. To configure PHP Authentication for the entire server, add the following line to your default object:

   <Object name="default">
   AuthTrans fn=php4_auth_trans
   .
   .
   .
   </Object>
   

6. To use PHP Authentication on a single directory, add the following:

   <Object ppath="d:\path\to\authenticated\dir\*">
   AuthTrans fn=php4_auth_trans
   </Object>
   

Note: The stacksize that PHP uses depends on the configuration of the web server. If you get crashes with very large PHP scripts, it is recommended to raise it with the Admin Server (in the section "MAGNUS EDITOR").

variables_order = "GPCS"
register_globals = On

Error fn="php4_execute" code=XXX script="/path/to/script.php" [inikey=value inikey=value...]

Service fn="php4_execute" type="magnus-internal/directory" script="/path/to/script.php" [inikey=value inikey=value...]

CGI and command line setups

The default is to build PHP as a CGI program. This creates a command line interpreter, which can be used for CGI processing, or for non-web-related PHP scripting. If you are running a web server PHP has module support for, you should generally go for that solution for performance reasons. However, the CGI version enables users to run different PHP-enabled pages under different user-ids.

As of PHP 4.3.0, some important additions have happened to PHP. A new SAPI named CLI also exists and it has the same name as the CGI binary. What is installed at {PREFIX}/bin/php depends on your configure line and this is described in detail in the manual section named Using PHP from the command line. For further details please read that section of the manual.

HP-UX specific installation notes

This section contains notes and hints specific to installing PHP on HP-UX systems.

There are two main options for installing PHP on HP-UX systems. Either compile it, or install a pre-compiled binary.

Official pre-compiled packages are located here: » http://software.hp.com/

Until this manual section is rewritten, the documentation about compiling PHP (and related extensions) on HP-UX systems has been removed. For now, consider reading the following external resource: » Building Apache and PHP on HP-UX 11.11

OpenBSD installation notes

This section contains notes and hints specific to installing PHP on » OpenBSD 3.6.

# pkg_add php4-core-4.3.8.tgz
# /usr/local/sbin/phpxs -s
# cp /usr/local/share/doc/php4/php.ini-recommended /var/www/conf/php.ini
  (add in mysql)
# pkg_add php4-mysql-4.3.8.tgz
# /usr/local/sbin/phpxs -a mysql
  (add in imap)
# pkg_add php4-imap-4.3.8.tgz
# /usr/local/sbin/phpxs -a imap
  (remove mysql as a test)
# pkg_delete php4-mysql-4.3.8
# /usr/local/sbin/phpxs -r mysql
  (install the PEAR libraries)
# pkg_add php4-pear-4.3.8.tgz

Solaris specific installation tips

This section contains notes and hints specific to installing PHP on Solaris systems.

Debian GNU/Linux installation notes

This section contains notes and hints specific to installing PHP on » Debian GNU/Linux.

While the instructions for building PHP on Unix apply to Debian as well, this manual page contains specific information for other options, such as using either the apt-get or aptitude commands. This manual page uses these two commands interchangeably.

# apt-get install php5-common libapache2-mod-php5 php5-cli

# /etc/init.d/apache2 stop
# /etc/init.d/apache2 start

# apt-cache search php5
# aptitude search php5
# aptitude search php5 |grep -i mysql

# apt-get install php5-mysql php5-curl

Using Packages

There are a few pre-packaged and pre-compiled versions of PHP for Mac OS X. This can help in setting up a standard configuration, but if you need to have a different set of features (such as a secure server, or a different database driver), you may need to build PHP and/or your web server yourself. If you are unfamiliar with building and compiling your own software, it's worth checking whether somebody has already built a packaged version of PHP with the features you need.

The following resources offer easy to install packages and precompiled binaries for PHP on Mac OS:

• MacPorts: » http://www.macports.org/
• Entropy: » http://www.entropy.ch/software/macosx/php/
• Fink: » http://fink.sourceforge.net/

Using the bundled PHP

PHP has come standard with Macs since OS X version 10.0.0. Enabling PHP with the default web server requires uncommenting a few lines in the Apache configuration file httpd.conf whereas the CGI and/or CLI are enabled by default (easily accessible via the Terminal program).

Enabling PHP using the instructions below is meant for quickly setting up a local development environment. It's highly recommended to always upgrade PHP to the newest version. Like most live software, newer versions are created to fix bugs and add features and PHP being is no different. See the appropriate MAC OS X installation documentation for further details. The following instructions are geared towards a beginner with details provided for getting a default setup to work. All users are encouraged to compile, or install a new packaged version.

The standard installation type is using mod_php, and enabling the bundled mod_php on Mac OS X for the Apache web server (the default web server, that is accessible via System Preferences) involves the following steps:

1. Locate and open the Apache configuration file. By default, the location is as follows: /private/etc/apache2/httpd.conf Using Finder or Spotlight to find this file may prove difficult as by default it's private and owned by the root user.

   Note: One way to open this is by using a Unix based text editor in the Terminal, for example nano, and because the file is owned by root we'll use the sudo command to open it (as root) so for example type the following into the Terminal Application (after, it will prompt for a password): sudo nano /private/etc/apache2/httpd.conf Noteworthy nano commands: ^w (search), ^o (save), and ^x (exit) where ^ represents the Ctrl key.

   Note: Versions of Mac OS X prior to 10.5 were bundled with older versions of PHP and Apache. As such, the Apache configuration file on legacy machines may be /etc/httpd/httpd.conf.

2. With a text editor, uncomment the lines (by removing the #) that look similar to the following (these two lines are often not together, locate them both in the file):

   # LoadModule php5_module libexec/httpd/libphp5.so
   
   # AddModule mod_php5.c
   

   Notice the location/path. When building PHP in the future, the above files should be replaced or commented out.

3. Be sure the desired extensions will parse as PHP (examples: .php .html and .inc)

   Due to the following statement already existing in httpd.conf (as of Mac Panther), once PHP is enabled the .php files will automatically parse as PHP.

   <IfModule mod_php5.c>
       # If php is turned on, we respect .php and .phps files.
       AddType application/x-httpd-php .php
       AddType application/x-httpd-php-source .phps
   
       # Since most users will want index.php to work we
       # also automatically enable index.php
       <IfModule mod_dir.c>
           DirectoryIndex index.html index.php
       </IfModule>
   </IfModule>
   

   Note: Before OS X 10.5 (Leopard), PHP 4 was bundled instead of PHP 5 in which case the above instructions will differ slightly by changing 5's to 4's.
   

4. Be sure the DirectoryIndex loads the desired default index file This is also set in httpd.conf. Typically index.php and index.html are used. By default index.php is enabled because it's also in the PHP check shown above. Adjust accordingly.
5. Set the php.ini location or use the default A typical default location on Mac OS X is /usr/local/php/php.ini and a call to phpinfo() will reveal this information. If a php.ini is not used, PHP will use all default values. See also the related FAQ on finding php.ini.
6. Locate or set the DocumentRoot This is the root directory for all the web files. Files in this directory are served from the web server so the PHP files will parse as PHP before outputting them to the browser. A typical default path is /Library/WebServer/Documents but this can be set to anything in httpd.conf. Alternatively, the default DocumentRoot for individual users is /Users/yourusername/Sites
7. Create a phpinfo() file

   The phpinfo() function will display information about PHP. Consider creating a file in the DocumentRoot with the following PHP code:

   <?php phpinfo(); ?>

8. Restart Apache, and load the PHP file created above To restart, either execute sudo apachectl graceful in the shell or stop/start the "Personal Web Server" option in the OS X System Preferences. By default, loading local files in the browser will have an URL like so: http://localhost/info.php Or using the DocumentRoot in the user directory is another option and would end up looking like: http://localhost/~yourusername/info.php

The CLI (or CGI in older versions) is appropriately named php and likely exists as /usr/bin/php. Open up the terminal, read the command line section of the PHP manual, and execute php -v to check the PHP version of this PHP binary. A call to phpinfo() will also reveal this information.

Compiling for OS X Server

Mac OS X Server install

1. Get the latest distributions of Apache and PHP.

2. Untar them, and run the configure program on Apache like so.

   ./configure --exec-prefix=/usr \
   --localstatedir=/var \
   --mandir=/usr/share/man \
   --libexecdir=/System/Library/Apache/Modules \
   --iconsdir=/System/Library/Apache/Icons \
   --includedir=/System/Library/Frameworks/Apache.framework/Versions/1.3/Headers \
   --enable-shared=max \
   --enable-module=most \
   --target=apache

3. If you want the compiler to do some optimization, you may also want to add this line:

   setenv OPTIM=-O2

4. Next, go to the PHP 4 source directory and configure it.

   ./configure --prefix=/usr \
       --sysconfdir=/etc \
       --localstatedir=/var \
       --mandir=/usr/share/man \
       --with-xml \
       --with-apache=/src/apache_1.3.12

   If you have any other additions (MySQL, GD, etc.), be sure to add them here. For the --with-apache string, put in the path to your apache source directory, for example /src/apache_1.3.12.

5. Type make and make install. This will add a directory to your Apache source directory under src/modules/php4.

6. Now, reconfigure Apache to build in PHP 4.

   ./configure --exec-prefix=/usr \
   --localstatedir=/var \
   --mandir=/usr/share/man \
   --libexecdir=/System/Library/Apache/Modules \
   --iconsdir=/System/Library/Apache/Icons \
   --includedir=/System/Library/Frameworks/Apache.framework/Versions/1.3/Headers \
   --enable-shared=max \
   --enable-module=most \
   --target=apache \
   --activate-module=src/modules/php4/libphp4.a

   You may get a message telling you that libmodphp4.a is out of date. If so, go to the src/modules/php4 directory inside your Apache source directory and run this command: ranlib libmodphp4.a. Then go back to the root of the Apache source directory and run the above configure command again. That'll bring the link table up to date. Run make and make install again.

7. Copy and rename the php.ini-development file to your bin directory from your PHP 4 source directory: cp php.ini-development /usr/local/bin/php.ini or (if your don't have a local directory) cp php.ini-development /usr/bin/php.ini .

Installing for Apache on MacOS X Client

The following instructions will help you install a PHP module for the Apache web server included in MacOS X using the MacOS GUI. This version includes MySQL, PostgreSQL, and iODBC database support, cURL, GD, PDFLib, LDAP, and more. These instructions are graciously provided by » Marc Liyanage.

Note: These instructions will only work with the original Apache web server as shipped by Apple. If you re-built or upgraded your Apache, you will have to build your own PHP module.

To install:

1. For Apache 1.3, download: http://www2.entropy.ch/download/entropy-php-5.2.4-1.tar.gz
2. For Apache 2, download: wget http://www2.entropy.ch/download/entropy-php-5.2.4-1-apache2.tar.gz
3. Unpack the compressed .tar.gz file, but DO NOT USE StuffIt Expander. Instead, use Apple's BOMArchiveHelper or the command line.
4. Double-click the installer package and follow the directions of the installer application.

That's all! PHP should now be up and running. You can test it by dropping a file named test.php into your Sites folder in your home directory. Into that file, write this line: <?php phpinfo() ?>.

Now open up 127.0.0.1/~your_username/test.php in your web browser. You should see a status table with information about the PHP module.

Windows Installer (PHP 5.1.0 and earlier)

The Windows PHP installer is available from the downloads page at » http://www.php.net/downloads.php. This installs the CGI version of PHP and for IIS, PWS, and Xitami, it configures the web server as well. The installer does not include any extra external PHP extensions (php_*.dll) as you'll only find those in the Windows Zip Package and PECL downloads.

Note: While the Windows installer is an easy way to make PHP work, it is restricted in many aspects as, for example, the automatic setup of extensions is not supported. Use of the installer isn't the preferred method for installing PHP.

First, install your selected HTTP (web) server on your system, and make sure that it works.

Run the executable installer and follow the instructions provided by the installation wizard. Two types of installation are supported - standard, which provides sensible defaults for all the settings it can, and advanced, which asks questions as it goes along.

The installation wizard gathers enough information to set up the php.ini file, and configure certain web servers to use PHP. One of the web servers the PHP installer does not configure for is Apache, so you'll need to configure it manually.

Once the installation has completed, the installer will inform you if you need to restart your system, restart the server, or just start using PHP.

Windows Installer (PHP 5.2 and later)

The Windows PHP installer for later versions of PHP is built using MSI technology using the Wix Toolkit (» http://wix.sourceforge.net/). It will install and configure PHP and all the built-in and PECL extensions, as well as configure many of the popular web servers such as IIS, Apache, and Xitami.

First, install your selected HTTP (web) server on your system, and make sure that it works. Then proceed with one of the following install types.

       
msiexec.exe /i php-VERSION-win32-install.msi /q

       
msiexec.exe /i php-VERSION-win32-install.msi /q INSTALLDIR=e:\php

       
msiexec.exe /i php-VERSION-win32-install.msi /q ADDLOCAL=cgi,ext_php_mysqli

 
MainExecutable - php.exe executable ( no longer available as of PHP 5.2.10/5.3.0; it is now included by default )
ScriptExecutable - php-win.exe executable
ext_php_* - the various extensions ( for example: ext_php_mysql for MySQL )
apache13 - Apache 1.3 module
apache20 - Apache 2.0 module
apache22 - Apache 2,2 module
apacheCGI - Apache CGI executable
iis4ISAPI - IIS ISAPI module
iis4CGI - IIS CGI executable
iis4FastCGI - IIS CGI executable
NSAPI - Sun/iPlanet/Netscape server module
netserve - NetServe Web Server CGI executable
Xitami - Xitami CGI executable
Sambar - Sambar Server ISAPI module
CGI - php-cgi.exe executable
PEAR - PEAR installer
Manual - PHP Manual in CHM Format

Manual Installation Steps

This section contains instructions for manually installing and configuring PHP on Microsoft Windows. For the instructions on how to use PHP installer to setup and configure PHP and a web server on Windows refer to Windows Installer (PHP 5.2 and later).

c:\php
   |
   +--dev
   |  |
   |  |-php5ts.lib                 -- php5.lib in non thread safe version
   |
   +--ext                          -- extension DLLs for PHP
   |  |
   |  |-php_bz2.dll
   |  |
   |  |-php_cpdf.dll
   |  |
   |  |-...
   |
   +--extras                       -- empty 
   |
   +--pear                         -- initial copy of PEAR
   |
   |
   |-go-pear.bat                   -- PEAR setup script
   |
   |-...
   |
   |-php-cgi.exe                   -- CGI executable
   |
   |-php-win.exe                   -- executes scripts without an opened command prompt
   |
   |-php.exe                       -- Command line PHP executable (CLI)
   |
   |-...
   |
   |-php.ini-development           -- default php.ini settings
   |
   |-php.ini-production            -- recommended php.ini settings
   |
   |-php5apache2_2.dll             -- does not exist in non thread safe version
   |
   |-php5apache2_2_filter.dll      -- does not exist in non thread safe version
   |
   |-...
   |
   |-php5ts.dll                    -- core PHP DLL ( php5.dll in non thread safe version)
   | 
   |-...

ActiveScript

This section contains notes specific to the ActiveScript installation.

ActiveScript is a Windows only SAPI that enables you to use PHP script in any ActiveScript compliant host, like Windows Script Host, ASP/ASP.NET, Windows Script Components or Microsoft Scriptlet control.

As of PHP 5.0.1, ActiveScript has been moved to the » PECL repository. A DLL for this PECL extension is currently unavailable. See also the building on Windows section.

Note: You should read the manual installation steps first!

After installing PHP, you should download the ActiveScript DLL (php5activescript.dll) and place it in the main PHP folder (e.g. C:\php).

After having all the files needed, you must register the DLL on your system. To achieve this, open a Command Prompt window (located in the Start Menu). Then go to your PHP directory by typing something like cd C:\php. To register the DLL just type regsvr32 php5activescript.dll.

To test if ActiveScript is working, create a new file, named test.wsf (the extension is very important) and type:

<job id="test">
 
 <script language="PHPScript">
  $WScript->Echo("Hello World!");
 </script>
 
</job>

Save and double-click on the file. If you receive a little window saying "Hello World!" you're done.

Note: In PHP 4, the engine was named 'ActivePHP', so if you are using PHP 4, you should replace 'PHPScript' with 'ActivePHP' in the above example.

Note: ActiveScript doesn't use the default php.ini file. Instead, it will look only in the same directory as the .exe that caused it to load. You should create php-activescript.ini and place it in that folder, if you wish to load extensions, etc.

Microsoft IIS

This section contains PHP installation instructions specific to Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS).

• Manually installing PHP on Microsoft IIS 5.1 and IIS 6.0
• Manually installing PHP on Microsoft IIS 7.0 and later

Microsoft IIS 5.1 and IIS 6.0

This section contains instructions for manually setting up Internet Information Services (IIS) 5.1 and IIS 6.0 to work with PHP on Microsoft Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. For instructions on setting up IIS 7.0 and later versions on Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 refer to Microsoft IIS 7.0 and later.

fastcgi.impersonate = 1
fastcgi.logging = 0
cgi.fix_pathinfo=1
cgi.force_redirect = 0

cscript %windir%\system32\inetsrv\fcgiconfig.js -add -section:"PHP" ^
-extension:php -path:"C:\PHP\php-cgi.exe"

Impersonation and file system access

It is recommended to enable FastCGI impersonation in PHP when using IIS. This is controlled by the fastcgi.impersonate directive in php.ini file. When impersonation is enabled, PHP will perform all the file system operations on behalf of the user account that has been determined by IIS authentication. This ensures that even if the same PHP process is shared across different IIS web sites, the PHP scripts in those web sites will not be able to access each others' files as long as different user accounts are used for IIS authentication on each web site.

For example IIS 5.1 and IIS 6.0, in its default configuration, has anonymous authentication enabled with built-in user account IUSR_<MACHINE_NAME> used as a default identity. This means that in order for IIS to execute PHP scripts, it is necessary to grant IUSR_<MACHINE_NAME> account read permission on those scripts. If PHP applications need to perform write operations on certain files or write files into some folders then IUSR_<MACHINE_NAME> account should have write permission to those.

To determine which user account is used by IIS anonymous authentication, follow these steps:

1. In the Windows Start Menu choose "Run:", type "inetmgr" and click "Ok";

2. Expand the list of web sites under the "Web Sites" node in the tree view, right-click on a web site that is being used and select "Properties";

3. Click the "Directory Security" tab;

4. Take note of a "User name:" field in the "Authentication Methods" dialog

To modify the permissions settings on files and folders, use the Windows Explorer user interface or icacls command.

Example #3 Configuring file access permissions

icacls C:\inetpub\wwwroot\upload /grant IUSR:(OI)(CI)(M)

Set index.php as a default document in IIS

The IIS default documents are used for HTTP requests that do not specify a document name. With PHP applications, index.php usually acts as a default document. To add index.php to the list of IIS default documents, follow these steps:

1. In the Windows Start Menu choose "Run:", type "inetmgr" and click "Ok";

2. Right-click on the "Web Sites" node in the tree view and select "Properties";

3. Click the "Documents" tab;

4. Click the "Add..." button and enter "index.php" for the "Default content page:".

cscript %windir%\system32\inetsrv\fcgiconfig.js -set -section:"PHP" ^
-InstanceMaxRequests:10000

cscript %windir%\system32\inetsrv\fcgiconfig.js -set -section:"PHP" ^
-EnvironmentVars:PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS:10000

cscript %windir%\system32\inetsrv\fcgiconfig.js -set -section:"PHP" ^
-ActivityTimeout:90

cscript %windir%\system32\inetsrv\fcgiconfig.js -set -section:"PHP" ^
-RequestTimeout:90

cscript %windir%\system32\inetsrv\fcgiconfig.js -set -section:"PHP" ^
-EnvironmentVars:PHPRC:"C:\Some\Directory\"

Microsoft IIS 7.0 and later

This section contains instructions for manually setting up Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.0 and later to work with PHP on Microsoft Windows Vista SP1, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2. For instructions on setting up IIS 5.1 and IIS 6.0 on Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 refer to Microsoft IIS 5.1 and IIS 6.0.

Enabling FastCGI support in IIS

FastCGI module is disabled in default installation of IIS. The steps to enable it differ based on the version of Windows being used.

To enable FastCGI support on Windows Vista SP1 and Windows 7:

1. In the Windows Start Menu choose "Run:", type "optionalfeatures.exe" and click "Ok";

2. In the "Windows Features" dialog expand "Internet Information Services", "World Wide Web Services", "Application Development Features" and then enable the "CGI" checkbox;

3. Click OK and wait until the installation is complete.

To enable FastCGI support on Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2:

1. In the Windows Start Menu choose "Run:", type "CompMgmtLauncher" and click "Ok";

2. If the "Web Server (IIS)" role is not present under the "Roles" node, then add it by clicking "Add Roles";

3. If the "Web Server (IIS)" role is present, then click "Add Role Services" and then enable the "CGI" checkbox under "Application Development" group;

4. Click "Next" and then "Install" and wait for the installation to complete.

Configuring IIS to process PHP requests

Download and install PHP in accordance to the instructions described in manual installation steps

Note: Non-thread-safe build of PHP is recommended when using IIS. The non-thread-safe builds are available at » PHP for Windows: Binaries and Sources Releases.

Configure the CGI- and FastCGI-specific settings in php.ini file as shown below:

Example #1 CGI and FastCGI settings in php.ini

fastcgi.impersonate = 1
fastcgi.logging = 0
cgi.fix_pathinfo=1
cgi.force_redirect = 0

Configure IIS handler mapping for PHP by using either IIS Manager user interface or a command line tool.

Using IIS Manager user interface to create a handler mapping for PHP

Follow these steps to create an IIS handler mapping for PHP in IIS Manager user interface:

1. In the Windows Start Menu choose "Run:", type "inetmgr" and click "Ok";

2. In the IIS Manager user interface select the server node in the "Connections" tree view;

3. In the "Features View" page open the "Handler Mappings" feature;

   

4. In the "Actions" pane click "Add Module Mapping...";

5. In the "Add Module Mapping" dialog enter the following:

   • Request path: *.php
   • Module: FastCgiModule
   • Executable: C:\[Path to PHP installation]\php-cgi.exe
   • Name: PHP_via_FastCGI

6. Click "Request Restrictions" button and then configure the mapping to invoke handler only if request is mapped to a file or a folder;

7. Click OK on all the dialogs to save the configuration.

Using command line tool to create a handler mapping for PHP

Use the command shown below to create an IIS FastCGI process pool which will use php-cgi.exe executable for processing PHP requests. Replace the value of the fullPath parameter with the absolute file path to the php-cgi.exe file.

Example #2 Creating IIS FastCGI process pool

%windir%\system32\inetsrv\appcmd set config /section:system.webServer/fastCGI ^
/+[fullPath='c:\PHP\php-cgi.exe']

Configure IIS to handle PHP specific requests by running the command shown below. Replace the value of the scriptProcessor parameter with the absolute file path to the php-cgi.exe file.

Example #3 Creating handler mapping for PHP requests

%windir%\system32\inetsrv\appcmd set config /section:system.webServer/handlers ^
/+[name='PHP_via_FastCGI', path='*.php',verb='*',modules='FastCgiModule',^
scriptProcessor='c:\PHP\php-cgi.exe',resourceType='Either']

This command creates an IIS handler mapping for *.php file extension, which will result in all URLs that end with .php being handled by FastCGI module.

Note: At this point the required installation and configuration steps are completed. The remaining instructions below are optional but highly recommended for achieving optimal functionality and performance of PHP on IIS.

%windir%\system32\inetsrv\appcmd.exe list config "Default Web Site" ^
/section:anonymousAuthentication

<system.webServer>
  <security>
    <authentication>
      <anonymousAuthentication enabled="true" userName="IUSR" />
    </authentication>
   </security>
</system.webServer>

icacls C:\inetpub\wwwroot\upload /grant IUSR:(OI)(CI)(M)

%windir%\system32\inetsrv\appcmd.exe set config ^
-section:system.webServer/defaultDocument /+"files.[value='index.php']" ^
/commit:apphost

%windir%\system32\inetsrv\appcmd.exe set config -section:system.webServer/fastCgi ^
/[fullPath='c:\php\php-cgi.exe'].instanceMaxRequests:10000

%windir%\system32\inetsrv\appcmd.exe set config -section:system.webServer/fastCgi ^
/+"[fullPath='C:\{php_folder}\php-cgi.exe'].environmentVariables.^
[name='PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS',value='10000']"

%windir%\system32\inetsrv\appcmd.exe set config -section:system.webServer/fastCgi ^
/[fullPath='C:\php\php-cgi.exe',arguments=''].activityTimeout:"90"  /commit:apphost

%windir%\system32\inetsrv\appcmd.exe set config -section:system.webServer/fastCgi ^
/[fullPath='C:\php\php-cgi.exe',arguments=''].requestTimeout:"90"  /commit:apphost

appcmd.exe set config  -section:system.webServer/fastCgi ^
/+"[fullPath='C:\php\php.exe',arguments=''].environmentVariables.^
[name='PHPRC',value='C:\Some\Directory\']" /commit:apphost

Apache 1.3.x on Microsoft Windows

This section contains notes and hints specific to Apache 1.3.x installs of PHP on Microsoft Windows systems. There are also instructions and notes for Apache 2 on a separate page.

Note: Please read the manual installation steps first!

There are two ways to set up PHP to work with Apache 1.3.x on Windows. One is to use the CGI binary (php.exe for PHP 4 and php-cgi.exe for PHP 5), the other is to use the Apache Module DLL. In either case you need to edit your httpd.conf to configure Apache to work with PHP, and then restart the server.

It is worth noting here that now the SAPI module has been made more stable under Windows, we recommend it's use above the CGI binary, since it is more transparent and secure.

Although there can be a few variations of configuring PHP under Apache, these are simple enough to be used by the newcomer. Please consult the Apache Documentation for further configuration directives.

After changing the configuration file, remember to restart the server, for example, NET STOP APACHE followed by NET START APACHE, if you run Apache as a Windows Service, or use your regular shortcuts.

Note: Remember that when adding path values in the Apache configuration files on Windows, all backslashes such as c:\directory\file.ext must be converted to forward slashes: c:/directory/file.ext. A trailing slash may also be necessary for directories.

# Add to the end of the LoadModule section
# Don't forget to copy this file from the sapi directory!
LoadModule php4_module "C:/php/php4apache.dll"

# Add to the end of the AddModule section
AddModule mod_php4.c

# Add to the end of the LoadModule section
LoadModule php5_module "C:/php/php5apache.dll"

# Add to the end of the AddModule section
AddModule mod_php5.c

# Add this line inside the <IfModule mod_mime.c> conditional brace
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php

# For syntax highlighted .phps files, also add
AddType application/x-httpd-php-source .phps

ScriptAlias /php/ "c:/php/"
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php

# For PHP 4
Action application/x-httpd-php "/php/php.exe"

# For PHP 5
Action application/x-httpd-php "/php/php-cgi.exe"

# specify the directory where php.ini is
SetEnv PHPRC C:/php

Apache 2.0.x on Microsoft Windows

This section contains notes and hints specific to Apache 2.0.x installs of PHP on Microsoft Windows systems. We also have instructions and notes for Apache 1.3.x users on a separate page.

Note: You should read the manual installation steps first!

Note: Apache 2.2.x Support
Users of Apache 2.2.x may use the documentation below except the appropriate DLL file is named php5apache2_2.dll and it only exists as of PHP 5.2.0. See also » http://snaps.php.net/

You are highly encouraged to take a look at the » Apache Documentation to get a basic understanding of the Apache 2.0.x Server. Also consider to read the » Windows specific notes for Apache 2.0.x before reading on here.

Note: PHP and Apache 2.0.x compatibility notes
The following versions of PHP are known to work with the most recent version of Apache 2.0.x:

• PHP 4.3.0 or later available at » http://www.php.net/downloads.php.
• the latest stable development version. Get the source code » http://snaps.php.net/php5-latest.tar.gz or download binaries for Windows » http://snaps.php.net/win32/php5-win32-latest.zip.
• a prerelease version downloadable from » http://qa.php.net/.
• you have always the option to obtain PHP through » anonymous SVN.

These versions of PHP are compatible to Apache 2.0.40 and later.
Apache 2.0 SAPI-support started with PHP 4.2.0. PHP 4.2.3 works with Apache 2.0.39, don't use any other version of Apache with PHP 4.2.3. However, the recommended setup is to use PHP 4.3.0 or later with the most recent version of Apache2.
All mentioned versions of PHP will work still with Apache 1.3.x.

Download the most recent version of » Apache 2.0.x and a fitting PHP version. Follow the Manual Installation Steps and come back to go on with the integration of PHP and Apache.

There are two ways to set up PHP to work with Apache 2.0.x on Windows. One is to use the CGI binary the other is to use the Apache module DLL. In either case you need to edit your httpd.conf to configure Apache to work with PHP and then restart the server.

Note: Remember that when adding path values in the Apache configuration files on Windows, all backslashes such as c:\directory\file.ext must be converted to forward slashes: c:/directory/file.ext. A trailing slash may also be necessary for directories.

ScriptAlias /php/ "c:/php/"
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php

# For PHP 4
Action application/x-httpd-php "/php/php.exe"

# For PHP 5
Action application/x-httpd-php "/php/php-cgi.exe"

# For PHP 4 do something like this:
LoadModule php4_module "c:/php/php4apache2.dll"
# Don't forget to copy the php4apache2.dll file from the sapi directory!
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php

# For PHP 5 do something like this:
LoadModule php5_module "c:/php/php5apache2.dll"
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php

# configure the path to php.ini
PHPIniDir "C:/php"

Sun, iPlanet and Netscape servers on Microsoft Windows

This section contains notes and hints specific to Sun Java System Web Server, Sun ONE Web Server, iPlanet and Netscape server installs of PHP on Windows.

From PHP 4.3.3 on you can use PHP scripts with the NSAPI module to generate custom directory listings and error pages. Additional functions for Apache compatibility are also available. For support in current web servers read the note about subrequests.

variables_order = "GPCS"
register_globals = On

Error fn="php4_execute" code=XXX script="/path/to/script.php" [inikey=value inikey=value...]

Service fn="php4_execute" type="magnus-internal/directory" script="/path/to/script.php" [inikey=value inikey=value...]

Init fn=php4_init ... server_lib="ns-httpdXX.dll"

OmniHTTPd Server

This section contains notes and hints specific to » OmniHTTPd on Windows.

Note: You should read the manual installation steps first!

You need to complete the following steps to make PHP work with OmniHTTPd. This is a CGI executable setup. SAPI is supported by OmniHTTPd, but some tests have shown that it is not so stable to use PHP as an ISAPI module.

Note: Important for CGI users
Read the faq on cgi.force_redirect for important details. This directive needs to be set to 0.

1. Install OmniHTTPd server.

2. Right click on the blue OmniHTTPd icon in the system tray and select Properties

3. Click on Web Server Global Settings

4. On the 'External' tab, enter: virtual = .php | actual = c:\php\php.exe (use php-cgi.exe if installing PHP 5), and use the Add button.

5. On the Mime tab, enter: virtual = wwwserver/stdcgi | actual = .php, and use the Add button.

6. Click OK

Repeat steps 2 - 6 for each extension you want to associate with PHP.

Note: Some OmniHTTPd packages come with built in PHP support. You can choose at setup time to do a custom setup, and uncheck the PHP component. We recommend you to use the latest PHP binaries. Some OmniHTTPd servers come with PHP 4 beta distributions, so you should choose not to set up the built in support, but install your own. If the server is already on your machine, use the Replace button in Step 4 and 5 to set the new, correct information.

Sambar Server on Microsoft Windows

This section contains notes and hints specific to the » Sambar Server for Windows.

Note: You should read the manual installation steps first!

This list describes how to set up the ISAPI module to work with the Sambar server on Windows.

• Find the file called mappings.ini (in the config directory) in the Sambar install directory.

• Open mappings.ini and add the following line under [ISAPI]:

  Example #1 ISAPI configuration of Sambar

  #for PHP 4
  *.php = c:\php\php4isapi.dll
  
  #for PHP 5
  *.php = c:\php\php5isapi.dll
  

  (This line assumes that PHP was installed in c:\php.)

• Now restart the Sambar server for the changes to take effect.

Note: If you intend to use PHP to communicate with resources which are held on a different computer on your network, then you will need to alter the account used by the Sambar Server Service. The default account used for the Sambar Server Service is LocalSystem which will not have access to remote resources. The account can be amended by using the Services option from within the Windows Control Panel Administation Tools.

Xitami on Microsoft Windows

This section contains notes and hints specific to » Xitami on Windows.

Note: You should read the manual installation steps first!

This list describes how to set up the PHP CGI binary to work with Xitami on Windows.

Note: Important for CGI users
Read the faq on cgi.force_redirect for important details. This directive needs to be set to 0. If you want to use $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'] you have to enable the cgi.fix_pathinfo directive.

• Make sure the web server is running, and point your browser to xitamis admin console (usually http://127.0.0.1/admin), and click on Configuration.

• Navigate to the Filters, and put the extension which PHP should parse (i.e. .php) into the field File extensions (.xxx).

• In Filter command or script put the path and name of your PHP CGI executable i.e. C:\php\php.exe for PHP 4, or C:\php\php-cgi.exe for PHP 5.

• Press the 'Save' icon.

• Restart the server to reflect changes.

Building from source

This chapter teaches how to compile PHP from sources on windows, using Microsoft's tools. To compile PHP with cygwin, please refer to Installation on Unix systems.

This chapter is outdated therefore it's temporarily been removed from the manual. For now, consider the following:

• Follow this guide: » here
• See also: » the Windows wiki

Installation of extensions on Windows

After installing PHP and a web server on Windows, you will probably want to install some extensions for added functionality. You can choose which extensions you would like to load when PHP starts by modifying your php.ini. You can also load a module dynamically in your script using dl().

The DLLs for PHP extensions are prefixed with php_.

Many extensions are built into the Windows version of PHP. This means additional DLL files, and the extension directive, are not used to load these extensions. The Windows PHP Extensions table lists extensions that require, or used to require, additional PHP DLL files. Here's a list of built in extensions:

In PHP 4 (updated PHP 4.3.11): BCMath, Caledar, COM, Ctype, FTP, MySQL, ODBC, Overload, PCRE, Session, Tokenizer, WDDX, XML and Zlib

In PHP 5 (updated PHP 5.0.4), the following changes exist. Built in: DOM, LibXML, Iconv, SimpleXML, SPL and SQLite. And the following are no longer built in: MySQL and Overload.

The default location PHP searches for extensions is C:\php4\extensions in PHP 4 and C:\php5 in PHP 5. To change this setting to reflect your setup of PHP edit your php.ini file:

• You will need to change the extension_dir setting to point to the directory where your extensions lives, or where you have placed your php_*.dll files. For example:

  extension_dir = C:\php\extensions

• Enable the extension(s) in php.ini you want to use by uncommenting the extension=php_*.dll lines in php.ini. This is done by deleting the leading ; from the extension you want to load.

  Example #1 Enable Bzip2 extension for PHP-Windows

  // change the following line from ...
  ;extension=php_bz2.dll
  
  // ... to
  extension=php_bz2.dll

• Some of the extensions need extra DLLs to work. Couple of them can be found in the distribution package, in the C:\php\dlls\ folder in PHP 4 or in the main folder in PHP 5, but some, for example Oracle (php_oci8.dll) require DLLs which are not bundled with the distribution package. If you are installing PHP 4, copy the bundled DLLs from C:\php\dlls folder to the main C:\php folder. Don't forget to include C:\php in the system PATH (this process is explained in a separate FAQ entry).

• Some of these DLLs are not bundled with the PHP distribution. See each extensions documentation page for details. Also, read the manual section titled Installation of PECL extensions for details on PECL. An increasingly large number of PHP extensions are found in PECL, and these extensions require a separate download.

Note: If you are running a server module version of PHP remember to restart your web server to reflect your changes to php.ini.

The following table describes some of the extensions available and required additional dlls.

Command Line PHP on Microsoft Windows

This section contains notes and hints specific to getting PHP running from the command line for Windows.

Note: You should read the manual installation steps first!

Getting PHP to run from the command line can be performed without making any changes to Windows.

C:\PHP5\php.exe -f "C:\PHP Scripts\script.php" -- -arg1 -arg2 -arg3

But there are some easy steps that can be followed to make this simpler. Some of these steps should already have been taken, but are repeated here to be able to provide a complete step-by-step sequence.

• Add the location of the PHP executable (php.exe, php-win.exe or php-cli.exe depending upon your PHP version and display preferences) to the PATH environment variable. Read more about how to add your PHP directory to PATH in the corresponding FAQ entry.

• Add the .PHP extension to the PATHEXT environment variable. This can be done at the same time as amending the PATH environment variable. Follow the same steps as described in the FAQ but amend the PATHEXT environment variable rather than the PATH environment variable.

  Note: The position in which you place the .PHP will determine which script or program is executed when there are matching filenames. For example, placing .PHP before .BAT will cause your script to run, rather than the batch file, if there is a batch file with the same name.
  

• Associate the .PHP extension with a file type. This is done by running the following command:

  assoc .php=phpfile
  

• Associate the phpfile file type with the appropriate PHP executable. This is done by running the following command:

  ftype phpfile="C:\PHP5\php.exe" -f "%1" -- %~2
  

Following these steps will allow PHP scripts to be run from any directory without the need to type the PHP executable or the .PHP extension and all parameters will be supplied to the script for processing.

The example below details some of the registry changes that can be made manually.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\.php]
@="phpfile"
"Content Type"="application/php"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\phpfile]
@="PHP Script"
"EditFlags"=dword:00000000
"BrowserFlags"=dword:00000008
"AlwaysShowExt"=""

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\phpfile\DefaultIcon]
@="C:\\PHP5\\php-win.exe0"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\phpfile\shell]
@="Open"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\phpfile\shell\Open]
@="&Open"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\phpfile\shell\Open\command]
@="\"C:\\PHP5\\php.exe\" -f \"%1\" -- %~2"

With these changes the same command can be written as:

"C:\PHP Scripts\script" -arg1 -arg2 -arg3

script -arg1 -arg2 -arg3

Note: There is a small problem if you intend to use this technique and use your PHP scripts as commandline filter, like the example below:

dir | "C:\PHP Scripts\script" -arg1 -arg2 -arg3

or

dir | script -arg1 -arg2 -arg3

You may find that the script simply hangs and nothing is output. To get this operational, you need to make another registry change.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\Explorer]
"InheritConsoleHandles"=dword:00000001

Further information regarding this issue can be found in this » Microsoft Knowledgebase Article : 321788.

Introduction to PECL Installations

» PECL is a repository of PHP extensions that are made available to you via the » PEAR packaging system. This section of the manual is intended to demonstrate how to obtain and install PECL extensions.

These instructions assume /your/phpsrcdir/ is the path to the PHP source distribution, and that extname is the name of the PECL extension. Adjust accordingly. These instructions also assume a familiarity with the » pear command. The information in the PEAR manual for the pear command also applies to the pecl command.

To be useful, a shared extension must be built, installed, and loaded. The methods described below provide you with various instructions on how to build and install the extensions, but they do not automatically load them. Extensions can be loaded by adding an extension directive. To this php.ini file, or through the use of the dl() function.

When building PHP modules, it's important to have known-good versions of the required tools (autoconf, automake, libtool, etc.) See the » Anonymous SVN Instructions for details on the required tools, and required versions.

Downloading PECL extensions

There are several options for downloading PECL extensions, such as:

• The pecl install extname command downloads the extensions code automatically, so in this case there is no need for a separate download.
• » http://pecl.php.net/ The PECL web site contains information about the different extensions that are offered by the PHP Development Team. The information available here includes: ChangeLog, release notes, requirements and other similar details.
• pecl download extname PECL extensions that have releases listed on the PECL web site are available for download and installation using the » pecl command. Specific revisions may also be specified.
• SVN Most PECL extensions also reside in SVN. A web-based view may be seen at » http://svn.php.net/viewvc/pecl/. To download straight from SVN, the following sequence of commands may be used:
  
  $ svn checkout http://svn.php.net/repository/pecl/extname/trunk extname
  

• Windows downloads At this time the PHP project does not compile Windows binaries for PECL extensions. However, to compile PHP under Windows see the chapter titled building PHP for Windows.

Installing a PHP extension on Windows

On Windows, you have two ways to load a PHP extension: either compile it into PHP, or load the DLL. Loading a pre-compiled extension is the easiest and preferred way.

To load an extension, you need to have it available as a ".dll" file on your system. All the extensions are automatically and periodically compiled by the PHP Group (see next section for the download).

To compile an extension into PHP, please refer to building from source documentation.

To compile a standalone extension (aka a DLL file), please refer to building from source documentation. If the DLL file is available neither with your PHP distribution nor in PECL, you may have to compile it before you can start using the extension.

drive:\\path\to\php\executable\php.exe -i

;extension=php_extname.dll

extension=php_extname.dll

Configuration File (php.ini) Path  C:\WINDOWS

Loaded Configuration File   C:\Program Files\PHP\5.2\php.ini

Compiling shared PECL extensions with the pecl command

PECL makes it easy to create shared PHP extensions. Using the » pecl command, do the following:

This will download the source for extname, compile, and install extname.so into your extension_dir. extname.so may then be loaded via php.ini

By default, the pecl command will not install packages that are marked with the alpha or beta state. If no stable packages are available, you may install a beta package using the following command:

You may also install a specific version using this variant:

Note: After enabling the extension in php.ini, restarting the web service is required for the changes to be picked up.

Compiling shared PECL extensions with phpize

Sometimes, using the pecl installer is not an option. This could be because you're behind a firewall, or it could be because the extension you want to install is not available as a PECL compatible package, such as unreleased extensions from SVN. If you need to build such an extension, you can use the lower-level build tools to perform the build manually.

The phpize command is used to prepare the build environment for a PHP extension. In the following sample, the sources for an extension are in a directory named extname:

$ cd extname
$ phpize
$ ./configure
$ make
# make install

A successful install will have created extname.so and put it into the PHP extensions directory. You'll need to and adjust php.ini and add an extension=extname.so line before you can use the extension.

If the system is missing the phpize command, and precompiled packages (like RPM's) are used, be sure to also install the appropriate devel version of the PHP package as they often include the phpize command along with the appropriate header files to build PHP and its extensions.

Execute phpize --helpto display additional usage information.

Compiling PECL extensions statically into PHP

You might find that you need to build a PECL extension statically into your PHP binary. To do this, you'll need to place the extension source under the php-src/ext/ directory and tell the PHP build system to regenerate its configure script.

$ cd /your/phpsrcdir/ext
$ pecl download extname
$ gzip -d < extname.tgz | tar -xvf -
$ mv extname-x.x.x extname

This will result in the following directory:

From here, force PHP to rebuild the configure script, and then build PHP as normal:

Note: To run the 'buildconf' script you need autoconf 2.13 and automake 1.4+ (newer versions of autoconf may work, but are not supported).

Whether --enable-extname or --with-extname is used depends on the extension. Typically an extension that does not require external libraries uses --enable. To be sure, run the following after buildconf:

Read the FAQ

Some problems are more common than others. The most common ones are listed in the PHP FAQ, part of this manual.

Other problems

If you are still stuck, someone on the PHP installation mailing list may be able to help you. You should check out the archive first, in case someone already answered someone else who had the same problem as you. The archives are available from the support page on » http://www.php.net/support.php. To subscribe to the PHP installation mailing list, send an empty mail to » php-install-subscribe@lists.php.net. The mailing list address is » php-install@lists.php.net.

If you want to get help on the mailing list, please try to be precise and give the necessary details about your environment (which operating system, what PHP version, what web server, if you are running PHP as CGI or a server module, safe mode, etc.), and preferably enough code to make others able to reproduce and test your problem.

Bug reports

If you think you have found a bug in PHP, please report it. The PHP developers probably don't know about it, and unless you report it, chances are it won't be fixed. You can report bugs using the bug-tracking system at » http://bugs.php.net/. Please do not send bug reports in mailing list or personal letters. The bug system is also suitable to submit feature requests.

Read the » How to report a bug document before submitting any bug reports!

The configuration file

The configuration file (php.ini) is read when PHP starts up. For the server module versions of PHP, this happens only once when the web server is started. For the CGI and CLI version, it happens on every invocation.

php.ini is searched in these locations (in order):

• SAPI module specific location (PHPIniDir directive in Apache 2, -c command line option in CGI and CLI, php_ini parameter in NSAPI, PHP_INI_PATH environment variable in THTTPD)

• The PHPRC environment variable. Before PHP 5.2.0 this was checked after the registry key mentioned below.

• As of PHP 5.2.0, the location of the php.ini file can be set for different versions of PHP. The following registry keys are examined in order: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\PHP\x.y.z], [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\PHP\x.y] and [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\PHP\x], where x, y and z mean the PHP major, minor and release versions. If there is a value for IniFilePath in these keys, then the first one found will be used as the location of the php.ini (Windows only).

• [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\PHP], value of IniFilePath (Windows only).

• Current working directory (except CLI)

• The web server's directory (for SAPI modules), or directory of PHP (otherwise in Windows)

• Windows directory (C:\windows or C:\winnt) (for Windows), or --with-config-file-path compile time option

If php-SAPI.ini exists (where SAPI is used SAPI, so the filename is e.g. php-cli.ini or php-apache.ini), it's used instead of php.ini. SAPI name can be determined by php_sapi_name().

Note: The Apache web server changes the directory to root at startup causing PHP to attempt to read php.ini from the root filesystem if it exists.

The php.ini directives handled by extensions are documented respectively on the pages of the extensions themselves. The list of the core directives is available in the appendix. Probably not all PHP directives are documented in the manual though. For a complete list of directives available in your PHP version, please read your well commented php.ini file. Alternatively, you may find the » the latest php.ini from SVN helpful too.

; any text on a line after an unquoted semicolon (;) is ignored
[php] ; section markers (text within square brackets) are also ignored
; Boolean values can be set to either:
;    true, on, yes
; or false, off, no, none
register_globals = off
track_errors = yes

; you can enclose strings in double-quotes
include_path = ".:/usr/local/lib/php"

; backslashes are treated the same as any other character
include_path = ".;c:\php\lib"

Since PHP 5.1.0, it is possible to refer to existing .ini variables from within .ini files. Example: open_basedir = ${open_basedir} ":/new/dir".

.user.ini files

Since PHP 5.3.0, PHP includes support for .htaccess-style INI files on a per-directory basis. These files are processed only by the CGI/FastCGI SAPI. This functionality obsoletes the PECL htscanner extension. If you are using Apache, use .htaccess files for the same effect.

In addition to the main php.ini file, PHP scans for INI files in each directory, starting with the directory of the requested PHP file, and working its way up to the current document root (as set in $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT']). Only INI settings with the modes PHP_INI_PERDIR and PHP_INI_USER will be recognized in .user.ini-style INI files.

Two new INI directives, user_ini.filename and user_ini.cache_ttl control the use of user INI files.

user_ini.filename sets the name of the file PHP looks for in each directory; if set to an empty string, PHP doesn't scan at all. The default is .user.ini.

user_ini.cache_ttl controls how often user INI files are re-read. The default is 300 seconds (5 minutes).

Where a configuration setting may be set

These modes determine when and where a PHP directive may or may not be set, and each directive within the manual refers to one of these modes. For example, some settings may be set within a PHP script using ini_set(), whereas others may require php.ini or httpd.conf.

For example, the output_buffering setting is PHP_INI_PERDIR therefore it may not be set using ini_set(). However, the display_errors directive is PHP_INI_ALL therefore it may be set anywhere, including with ini_set().

How to change configuration settings

<IfModule mod_php5.c>
  php_value include_path ".:/usr/local/lib/php"
  php_admin_flag safe_mode on
</IfModule>
<IfModule mod_php4.c>
  php_value include_path ".:/usr/local/lib/php"
  php_admin_flag safe_mode on
</IfModule>

Escaping from HTML

When PHP parses a file, it looks for opening and closing tags, which tell PHP to start and stop interpreting the code between them. Parsing in this manner allows PHP to be embedded in all sorts of different documents, as everything outside of a pair of opening and closing tags is ignored by the PHP parser. Most of the time you will see PHP embedded in HTML documents, as in this example.

You can also use more advanced structures:

This works as expected, because when PHP hits the ?> closing tags, it simply starts outputting whatever it finds (except for an immediately following newline - see instruction separation ) until it hits another opening tag. The example given here is contrived, of course, but for outputting large blocks of text, dropping out of PHP parsing mode is generally more efficient than sending all of the text through echo() or print().

There are four different pairs of opening and closing tags which can be used in PHP. Two of those, <?php ?> and <script language="php"> </script>, are always available. The other two are short tags and ASP style tags, and can be turned on and off from the php.ini configuration file. As such, while some people find short tags and ASP style tags convenient, they are less portable, and generally not recommended.

Note: Also note that if you are embedding PHP within XML or XHTML you will need to use the <?php ?> tags to remain compliant with standards.

While the tags seen in examples one and two are both always available, example one is the most commonly used, and recommended, of the two.

Short tags (example three) are only available when they are enabled via the short_open_tag php.ini configuration file directive, or if PHP was configured with the --enable-short-tags option.

ASP style tags (example four) are only available when they are enabled via the asp_tags php.ini configuration file directive.

Note: Using short tags should be avoided when developing applications or libraries that are meant for redistribution, or deployment on PHP servers which are not under your control, because short tags may not be supported on the target server. For portable, redistributable code, be sure not to use short tags.

Instruction separation

As in C or Perl, PHP requires instructions to be terminated with a semicolon at the end of each statement. The closing tag of a block of PHP code automatically implies a semicolon; you do not need to have a semicolon terminating the last line of a PHP block. The closing tag for the block will include the immediately trailing newline if one is present.

Note: The closing tag of a PHP block at the end of a file is optional, and in some cases omitting it is helpful when using include() or require(), so unwanted whitespace will not occur at the end of files, and you will still be able to add headers to the response later. It is also handy if you use output buffering, and would not like to see added unwanted whitespace at the end of the parts generated by the included files.

Comments

PHP supports 'C', 'C++' and Unix shell-style (Perl style) comments. For example:

The "one-line" comment styles only comment to the end of the line or the current block of PHP code, whichever comes first. This means that HTML code after // ... ?> or # ... ?> WILL be printed: ?> breaks out of PHP mode and returns to HTML mode, and // or # cannot influence that. If the asp_tags configuration directive is enabled, it behaves the same with // %> and # %>. However, the </script> tag doesn't break out of PHP mode in a one-line comment.

'C' style comments end at the first */ encountered. Make sure you don't nest 'C' style comments. It is easy to make this mistake if you are trying to comment out a large block of code.

Introduction

PHP supports eight primitive types.

Four scalar types:

• boolean
• integer
• float (floating-point number, aka double)
• string

Two compound types:

• array
• object

And finally two special types:

• resource
• NULL

This manual also introduces some pseudo-types for readability reasons:

• mixed
• number
• callback

And the pseudo-variable $... .

Some references to the type "double" may remain in the manual. Consider double the same as float; the two names exist only for historic reasons.

The type of a variable is not usually set by the programmer; rather, it is decided at runtime by PHP depending on the context in which that variable is used.

Note: To check the type and value of an expression, use the var_dump() function. To get a human-readable representation of a type for debugging, use the gettype() function. To check for a certain type, do not use gettype(), but rather the is_type functions. Some examples:

<?php
$a_bool = TRUE;   // a boolean
$a_str  = "foo";  // a string
$a_str2 = 'foo';  // a string
$an_int = 12;     // an integer

echo gettype($a_bool); // prints out:  boolean
echo gettype($a_str);  // prints out:  string

// If this is an integer, increment it by four
if (is_int($an_int)) {
    $an_int += 4;
}

// If $bool is a string, print it out
// (does not print out anything)
if (is_string($a_bool)) {
    echo "String: $a_bool";
}
?>

To forcibly convert a variable to a certain type, either cast the variable or use the settype() function on it.

Note that a variable may be evaluated with different values in certain situations, depending on what type it is at the time. For more information, see the section on Type Juggling. The type comparison tables may also be useful, as they show examples of various type-related comparisons.

Booleans

This is the simplest type. A boolean expresses a truth value. It can be either TRUE or FALSE.

Note: The boolean type was introduced in PHP 4.

Integers

An integer is a number of the set Z = {..., -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, ...}.

See also:

• Arbitrary length integer / GMP
• Floating point numbers
• Arbitrary precision / BCMath

decimal     : [1-9][0-9]*
            | 0

hexadecimal : 0[xX][0-9a-fA-F]+

octal       : 0[0-7]+

integer     : [+-]?decimal
            | [+-]?hexadecimal
            | [+-]?octal

Floating point numbers

Floating point numbers (also known as "floats", "doubles", or "real numbers") can be specified using any of the following syntaxes:

Formally:

The size of a float is platform-dependent, although a maximum of ~1.8e308 with a precision of roughly 14 decimal digits is a common value (the 64 bit IEEE format).

Strings

A string is series of characters. Before PHP 6, a character is the same as a byte. That is, there are exactly 256 different characters possible. This also implies that PHP has no native support of Unicode. See utf8_encode() and utf8_decode() for some basic Unicode functionality.

Note: It is no problem for a string to become very large. PHP imposes no boundary on the size of a string; the only limit is the available memory of the computer on which PHP is running.

My name is "MyName". I am printing some Foo.
Now, I am printing some Bar2.
This should print a capital 'A': A

My name is "$name". I am printing some $foo->foo.
Now, I am printing some {$foo->bar[1]}.
This should not print a capital 'A': \x41

Arrays

An array in PHP is actually an ordered map. A map is a type that associates values to keys. This type is optimized for several different uses; it can be treated as an array, list (vector), hash table (an implementation of a map), dictionary, collection, stack, queue, and probably more. As array values can be other arrays, trees and multidimensional arrays are also possible.

Explanation of those data structures is beyond the scope of this manual, but at least one example is provided for each of them. For more information, look towards the considerable literature that exists about this broad topic.

array(  key =>  value
     , ...
     )
// key may only be an integer or string
// value may be any value of any type

$arr[key] = value;
$arr[] = value;
// key may be an integer or string
// value may be any value of any type

Do you like red?
Do you like blue?
Do you like green?
Do you like yellow?

Array
(
    [0] => RED
    [1] => BLUE
    [2] => GREEN
    [3] => YELLOW
)

Array 
(
    [1] => 'January'
    [2] => 'February'
    [3] => 'March'
)

Objects

Resources

A resource is a special variable, holding a reference to an external resource. Resources are created and used by special functions. See the appendix for a listing of all these functions and the corresponding resource types.

Note: The resource type was introduced in PHP 4

See also the get_resource_type() function.

NULL

The special NULL value represents a variable with no value. NULL is the only possible value of type NULL.

Note: The null type was introduced in PHP 4.

A variable is considered to be null if:

• it has been assigned the constant NULL.

• it has not been set to any value yet.

• it has been unset().

Pseudo-types and variables used in this documentation