Interpreting PHP offline?

Question

I'm trying to learn PHP, and it's getting annoying having to upload a file to the server every 30 seconds. Is there a way to get a browser (I use Chrome on Mac 10.6.7) to interpret a PHP file (browser plugin or external app)? Or, is there some way to "convert" the PHP to HTML, with all the "hypertext preprocessing" done?

In short, is there a way I can practice PHP without using a server, or installing a server on my computer?

I find the easiest way is to log in on your server and edit the PHP files locally. That way you do not have to upload. — Hennes, Jan 08 '13 at 18:55
How would I do that? I've been using FTP, and it's astoundingly slow. — tkbx, Jan 08 '13 at 18:57
@tkbx if you install a server on your home computer you won't have to deal with FTP or uploading at all. At that point it is just a drag and drop on the local filesystem. — Moses, Jan 08 '13 at 19:31
@Moses I don't have root access to my machine, and I have a hosting package that I use for various things. php command will work for now. I've got a Linux install with LAMP as well, but it's being used for something else. — tkbx, Jan 08 '13 at 21:11

terdon · Accepted Answer · 2015-04-10T22:27:02.253

4

Not really no, "PHP is an open source server-side scripting language designed for Web development to produce dynamic Web pages". You could just set up a local server and test there, that is what I do.

Alternatively, on Linux at least, you can run PHP scripts from the command line:

$ php index.php > output.html

You can then open the resulting html in a web browser.

edited Apr 10 '15 at 22:27

answered Jan 08 '13 at 18:57

terdon

53,403

1

This also works on OS X since, for example Mountain Lion, ships with PHP 5.3.15. Or If the OP wants to install a server nonetheless, MAMP would be a good solution since it's rather isolated from the OS and can be removed easily. – slhck Jan 08 '13 at 18:58
I've got Snow Leopard, and I've got php. This is exactly what I'm looking for, thanks! – tkbx Jan 08 '13 at 18:59
You can run php from the command line under windows as well, just saying – ArtisticPhoenix Apr 10 '15 at 20:09
@ArtisiticPhoenix I never said you couldn't. I just said you could on Linux which is the OS I use. I'm sure other OSs can also do it but I don't know the syntax or anything about it so I didn't mention them. – terdon Apr 10 '15 at 22:29
Using PHP built-in web server consumes far less resources than a LAMP, MAMP, XAMP, etc... – Michael Niño Jun 24 '17 at 02:31

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 24 '17 at 02:29

It's simple. PHP already has a built-in web server. Here is how you start it.

$ cd ~/public_html
$ php -S localhost:8000

The terminal or command window will show:

PHP 5.4.0 Development Server started at Thu Jul 21 10:43:28 2011
Listening on localhost:8000
Document root is ~/public_html
Press Ctrl-C to quit

Now open your web browser to: http://localhost:8000

score -1 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 12 '13 at 00:13

-1

Just install MAMP, you can run php local on your computer. http://www.mamp.info/en/index.html

answered Jan 12 '13 at 00:13

user187357

1

I've tried various AMP stacks for Mac, and they all need root/admin, which I don't have. I'll try that one, but the php program has worked well so far (other than GET and POST.) – tkbx Jan 12 '13 at 03:08
have you tried Uniserver you can run it on a flash drive, full Apache php mysql – ArtisticPhoenix Apr 10 '15 at 20:11
Using PHP built-in web server consumes far less resources than a LAMP, MAMP, XAMP, etc... – Michael Niño Jun 24 '17 at 02:31

Interpreting PHP offline?

3 Answers3