General Information - Manual - PHP

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Search docs Getting Started Introduction A simple tutorial Language Reference Basic syntax Types Variables Constants Expressions Operators Control Structures Functions Classes and Objects Namespaces Enumerations Errors Exceptions Fibers Generators Attributes References Explained Predefined Variables Predefined Exceptions Predefined Interfaces and Classes Predefined Attributes Context options and parameters Supported Protocols and Wrappers Security Introduction General considerations Installed as CGI binary Installed as an Apache module Session Security Filesystem Security Database Security Error Reporting User Submitted Data Hiding PHP Keeping Current Features HTTP authentication with PHP Cookies Sessions Handling file uploads Using remote files Connection handling Persistent Database Connections Command line usage Garbage Collection DTrace Dynamic Tracing Function Reference Affecting PHP's Behaviour Audio Formats Manipulation Authentication Services Command Line Specific Extensions Compression and Archive Extensions Cryptography Extensions Database Extensions Date and Time Related Extensions File System Related Extensions Human Language and Character Encoding Support Image Processing and Generation Mail Related Extensions Mathematical Extensions Non-Text MIME Output Process Control Extensions Other Basic Extensions Other Services Search Engine Extensions Server Specific Extensions Session Extensions Text Processing Variable and Type Related Extensions Web Services Windows Only Extensions XML Manipulation GUI Extensions Keyboard Shortcuts? This help j Next menu item k Previous menu item g p Previous man page g n Next man page G Scroll to bottom g g Scroll to top g h Goto homepage g s Goto search(current page) / Focus search box Mailing lists » « FAQ

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This section holds the most general questions about PHP: what it is and what it does.

1. What is PHP?
2. What does PHP stand for?
3. What is the relation between the versions?
4. Can I run several versions of PHP at the same time?
5. I think I found a bug! Who should I tell?

What is PHP?

From the preface of the manual:

PHP is an HTML-embedded scripting language. Much of its syntax is borrowed from C, Java and Perl with a couple of unique PHP-specific features thrown in. The goal of the language is to allow web developers to write dynamically generated pages quickly.

What does PHP stand for?

PHP stands for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor. This confuses many people because the first word of the acronym is the acronym. This type of acronym is called a recursive acronym. For more information, the curious can visit » Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing or the » Wikipedia entry on recursive acronyms.

What is the relation between the versions?

PHP/FI 2.0 is an early and no longer supported version of PHP. PHP 3 is the successor to PHP/FI 2.0 and is a lot nicer. PHP 8 is the current generation of PHP, which uses the Zend engine 4 which, among other things, offers many additional OOP features.

Can I run several versions of PHP at the same time?

Yes. See the INSTALL file that is included in the PHP source distribution.

I think I found a bug! Who should I tell?

You should go to the PHP Bug Database and make sure the bug isn't a known bug. If you don't see it in the database, use the reporting form to report the bug. It is important to use the bug database instead of just sending an email to one of the mailing lists because the bug will have a tracking number assigned and it will then be possible for you to go back later and check on the status of the bug. The bug database can be found at » https://github.com/php/php-src/issues.

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