1. Server-Side Scripting: PHP is primarily used for server-side scripting, which means that it is executed on the web server before the web page is sent to the user's browser. This allows dynamic content generation and interaction with databases.
2. Open Source: PHP is open-source and freely available for anyone to use and distribute. It has a large and active community of developers, which means it is constantly updated and improved.
3. Cross-Platform: PHP is platform-independent, meaning it can run on various operating systems like Windows, Linux, macOS, and others. This cross-platform compatibility makes it a versatile choice for web development.
4. Integration: PHP can easily integrate with various web servers, including Apache, Nginx, and others, as well as databases like MySQL, PostgreSQL, and more.
5. Embedded in HTML: PHP is often embedded directly within HTML, making it easy to mix dynamic content and server-side logic with the HTML structure.
1. Web Development: PHP is primarily used for building dynamic websites and web applications. It's well-suited for tasks like user authentication, form processing, database integration, and content management systems (CMS).
2. Server-Side Scripting: PHP processes data on the server, which allows it to handle tasks such as processing user input, managing sessions, and interacting with databases.
3. Command-Line Scripting: PHP can also be used for writing command-line scripts for tasks such as automating system operations and performing batch processing.
4. API Development: Many web services and APIs are built using PHP to facilitate communication between different applications and systems.
Variables in PHP start with the dollar sign $.
Comments in PHP can be single-line comments (using //) or multi-line comments (using /* ... */).
Statements in PHP are terminated with a semicolon (;).