What is PHP? Easily explained

PHP is an important term in web programming. You can find out what PHP actually is in this practical tip.

PHP - what is it?

PHP is a programming language used to write websites.

• PHP is the most common of the server-side programming languages ​​with approx. 80% (as of June 2015). The server side means that the language can only perform actions on the server: it can, for example, establish connections to a database or delete files on the server.
• You can easily convert an HTML file to PHP. You simply have to save the HTML file under .php. You can upload this PHP file to your server and call it up without the actual PHP code. The output is unchanged.

PHP - the programming language is used for this

• PHP can be used to process user input. For example, if you would like to include a contact form on your website, the entries must be processed further. This is not possible only with HTML. With PHP, for example, you can check whether all fields have been completed and, if successful, send an email.
• If you want to retrieve content from a database, it makes sense to use PHP. For example, if you want to program a news website, you can save your texts in a database and then use PHP to output them at the desired locations in your HTML code. You do not have to create an individual HTML file for each article and can make changes much faster.

The list of application areas for PHP can be continued as desired. If you're interested in web programming, read what HTML is.