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PHP

PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor) is a simple scripting language that can be used to create dynamic Web pages. PHP scripts, which are embedded in HTML, are run on the server side, so in order for them to work, the Web server has to be configured appropriately.

The primary purpose of this document is to let you know that PHP is available on the Web servers www.people.virginia.edu, www.virginia.edu, faculty.virginia.edu, indorgs.virginia.edu, and www.itc.virginia.edu. If you would like to use PHP scripts in your personal Web site, you simply need to save a PHP file in your public_html directory with either of the following filename extensions:

• .php
• .phtml

Special note: The current version of PHP on www.people.virginia.edu, faculty.virginia.edu, indorgs.virginia.edu, and www.virginia.edu is PHP4. Please note that the .php3 filename extension is still valid, but your scripts will actually run using PHP 4.

See our document on PHP4 and Global Variables to learn what changes you may need to make to your php code:
http://www.itc.virginia.edu/desktop/web/php4.html

If you save the file with a .phps filename extension, you may view the source code (color-coded) from a Web browser.

ITC offers this service to those who have interest in using PHP, but little or no support is offered.

• If you would like more information on PHP, we recommend you view the following tutorial (which offers links to other tutorials as well):

  http://www.php.net/tut.php

• For an example of using PHP for processing form input, please see:

  http://www.itc.virginia.edu/desktop/web/phpform.html

• For examples of using PHP with a MySQL database, please see:

  http://www.itc.virginia.edu/desktop/database/php.html

• For information about training in PHP and MySQL, please see the Department of Training web site:

  http://www.web.virginia.edu/DOTWeb/itccourselist.cfm

If you need further assistance with Web applications or questions, send e-mail to web-consult@virginia.edu or call the ITC Help Desk at 924-3731.