Here’s a short tutorial on how to get started with PHP:
- Install a web server software such as Apache and PHP on your computer. You can use XAMPP or WAMP for Windows, or LAMP for Linux. These packages come with Apache, PHP, and MySQL bundled together, making it easy to get started with PHP development.
- Create a new directory for your PHP project and navigate to it in your terminal or command prompt.
- Create a new file named
index.phpand open it in your text editor or IDE. - Add the following code to the
index.phpfile:
phpCopy code<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>My First PHP Page</title>
</head>
<body>
<?php
echo "Hello, World!";
?>
</body>
</html>
- Save the file and open your web browser. Type the URL of your project into the address bar, for example,
http://localhost/my-project/index.php. You should see the text “Hello, World!” displayed in your browser. - Next, let’s add a form to the page that allows the user to enter their name and display a personalized greeting. Replace the code in
index.phpwith the following:
phpCopy code<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>My First PHP Page</title>
</head>
<body>
<form action="index.php" method="post">
Name: <input type="text" name="name">
<input type="submit">
</form>
<br>
<?php
if (isset($_POST['name'])) {
$name = $_POST['name'];
echo "Hello, $name!";
}
?>
</body>
</html>
- Save the file and refresh the page in your browser. You should now see a form that allows you to enter your name, and after submitting the form, you should see a personalized greeting displayed below the form.
In this tutorial, you’ve learned how to create a basic PHP web page, how to display dynamic content, and how to handle form submissions. This is just the beginning of what you can do with PHP, and you can now start exploring more advanced concepts and techniques to build more complex and sophisticated web applications.