12 Jul PHP Tutorial

PHP is a free and open-source server-side scripting language for developing interactive and dynamic web pages. It’s an acronym for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor. PHP was initially released by Rasmus Lerdorf in 1995.

Popularity

As of June 2025, PHP was used as the server-side programming language on 74% of 10 million most popular websites. A lot of well-known Content Management Systems, including WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, and Moodle, were originally written in PHP.

Some well-known websites, like Facebook, Tumblr, Dailymotion, Slack, and Digg use PHP.

Here’s the official PHP mascot, The ElePHPant,

Run PHP Online

<?php
   echo "Hello, World!"
?>

Run it Now ↗️

Viewers

The tutorial is prepared for students, engineers, and professionals. Beginning with the introduction, you will learn how to install PHP and start working with it to develop dynamic websites. With that, step-by-step lessons are provided covering basic as well as advanced PHP concepts.

FAQs

Q1: What is PHP and why is it used in web development?

Ans: PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor) is an open-source, server-side scripting language widely used to build dynamic and interactive websites. Unlike client-side languages like HTML or JavaScript, PHP code is executed on the web server before the resulting output is sent to the client’s browser as plain HTML. It is essential for managing web form data, user sessions, content management systems (like WordPress), and database integrations.

Q2: How does PHP interact with MySQL databases?

Ans: PHP connects to MySQL databases to store, retrieve, update, and delete application data. Developers establish database connections using either MySQLi (MySQL Improved) or PDO (PHP Data Objects). Using PDO or MySQLi with prepared statements prevents SQL injection vulnerabilities and ensures secure data interactions.

Q3: What is the difference between GET and POST methods in PHP forms?

Ans: Both methods send form data to the server, but they handle transmission differently:

• GET ($_GET): Appends form data directly to the URL string. It is visible in the browser address bar, bookmarkable, and suited for non-sensitive data queries like search bars.
• POST ($_POST): Sends form data securely inside the HTTP request body. It is invisible in the URL bar, has no length restrictions, and is ideal for sensitive transactions like logins and registration forms.

Q4: What is the difference between include and require in PHP?

Ans: Both statements insert the contents of one PHP file into another, but they differ in error handling when a file is missing:

• include: Produces a warning (E_WARNING) if the specified file is missing, but allows the rest of the script to continue executing.
• require: Produces a fatal error (E_COMPILE_ERROR) if the specified file is missing, immediately halting script execution.

Q5: What core concepts and web scripting topics are covered in Studyopedia’s PHP tutorial?

Ans: Studyopedia’s PHP tutorial covers local server setup (XAMPP/WAMP), syntax basics, variables, echo/print statements, data types, operators, control flow, loops, functions, array handling, form handling ($_GET/$_POST), sessions & cookies, File handling, Object-Oriented PHP (Classes, Inheritance), and MySQL database connectivity.

PHP Index

Basics of PHP

• PHP – Introduction
• PHP – Installation
• PHP – First Program
• Run PHP 8 program in XAMPP Server
• Run first PHP program in XAMPP Server
• PHP – Variables
• PHP – Constants
• PHP – Data types
• PHP – Operators
• PHP – Loops
• PHP – Decision Making Statements
• PHP – Arrays
• PHP – String Handling

Advanced PHP

• PHP – GET Method
• PHP – POST Method
• PHP – Functions
• PHP – Cookies
• PHP – Sessions
• PHP – require Statement
• PHP – include Statement

Let’s begin with PHP Introduction.