PHP is a programming language suitable for web development, especially good at dynamic website and server-side processing. PHP is a good starting point for beginners because it is easy to get started and widely used. There are many ways to install a PHP environment: 1. Use XAMPP, WAMP or MAMP one-click installation package; 2. Mac users can update PHP with Homebrew; 3. Linux users can install it through apt-get or yum. After the installation is completed, you can use php -v to check the version. PHP code is usually embedded in HTML, starting with <?php and ending with ?>, for example outputting "Hello, world!". Variables start with $ and support basic types and control structures, such as if, for, and while. You can customize functions such as sayHello(). PHP is often used with MySQL, connecting to the database through mysqli or PDO, executing queries and outputting results. Finally, the database connection needs to be closed. During the learning process, it is recommended to start with simple projects such as message books or log in to the system, and to master the application of PHP in form processing, conversation management and database interaction through practice.
PHP is a programming language used for web development, especially suitable for dynamic website and server-side processing. If you are new to programming or want to do website backend development, PHP is a good starting point. It is easy to use and widely used. Many websites such as WordPress and Facebook were originally built with PHP.

Installing PHP environment is not complicated
When you first learn PHP, you must first make the computer run the PHP program. There are several ways you can choose:
- Install XAMPP, WAMP or MAMP. These toolkits have integrated Apache, MySQL and PHP, and are installed in one click, suitable for beginners.
- If you are using a Mac, the system comes with PHP, but the version may be relatively old, you can consider using Homebrew to install the update.
- Linux users generally use apt-get or yum to install it. For example, running
sudo apt install php
on Ubuntu can install the basic environment.
After the installation is completed, you can use the command php -v
to check whether the installation is successful.

Start writing with the simplest code
PHP's code is usually embedded in HTML, starting with <?php
and ending with ?>
. The most basic example is to output a sentence:
<?php echo "Hello, world!"; ?>
You can also embed it into the web page:

<!DOCTYPE html> <html> <body> <h1>Welcome to my website</h1> <?php echo "This is a sentence output using PHP."; ?> </body> </html>
Note: This code needs to be run in a server environment, and you cannot directly double-click the HTML file to open it.
Learn to use variables and basic structures
The variables of PHP begin with $
, such as $name = "Tom";
. It supports basic types such as strings, numbers, and boolean values. You can use control structures such as if
, for
, and while
to write logic.
For example:
<?php $age = 20; if ($age >= 18) { echo "You are already an adult."; } else { echo "You are underage."; } ?>
Functions are also the core part of PHP. You can use built-in functions, such as strlen()
to get the string length, or you can define the function yourself:
function saysHello($name) { echo "Hello," . $name; } sayHello("Xiao Ming");
Database connection is one of the key skills
PHP is often used with MySQL to do website login, leave messages, post articles and other functions. To connect to the database, you can use mysqli
or PDO
.
For example, use mysqli
to connect:
$conn = new mysqli("localhost", "username", "password", "mydatabase"); if ($conn->connect_error) { die("Connection failed:" . $conn->connect_error); } echo "Connected successfully";
Then you can execute the query statement:
$sql = "SELECT id, name FROM users"; $result = $conn->query($sql); if ($result->num_rows > 0) { while($row = $result->fetch_assoc()) { echo "ID: " . $row["id"]. " - Name: " . $row["name"]. "<br>"; } }
Don't forget to close the connection at the end: $conn->close();
Basically that's it. It is not difficult to learn PHP, but if you want to use it well, you still have to write and practice more, especially when dealing with common tasks such as forms, conversations, and database interactions. At the beginning, you can try to make a simple message book or log in to the system, and you can get started slowly.
The above is the detailed content of The Basics of PHP. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!

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