Pratama Master

Taken directly from PHP's home, PHP.net, "PHP is an HTML-embedded scripting language. Much of its syntax is borrowed from C, Java and Perl with a couple of unique PHP-specific features thrown in. The goal of the language is to allow web developers to write dynamically generated pages quickly."

This is generally a good definition of PHP. However, it does contain a lot of terms you may not be used to. Another way to think of PHP is a powerful, behind the scenes scripting language that your visitors won't see!
When someone visits your PHP webpage, your web server processes the PHP code. It then sees which parts it needs to show to visitors(content and pictures) and hides the other stuff(file operations, math calculations, etc.) then translates your PHP into HTML. After the translation into HTML, it sends the webpage to your visitor's web browser.

What You Should Already Know

Before you continue you should have a basic understanding of the following:

HTML
JavaScript

If you want to study these subjects first, find the tutorials on our Home page.

What is PHP?

PHP stands for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor
PHP is a widely-used, open source scripting language
PHP scripts are executed on the server
PHP is free to download and use

	PHP is simple for beginners. PHP also offers many advanced features for professional programmers.

What is a PHP File?

PHP files can contain text, HTML, JavaScript code, and PHP code
PHP code are executed on the server, and the result is returned to the browser as plain HTML
PHP files have a default file extension of ".php"

What Can PHP Do?

PHP can generate dynamic page content
PHP can create, open, read, write, and close files on the server
PHP can collect form data
PHP can send and receive cookies
PHP can add, delete, modify data in your database
PHP can restrict users to access some pages on your website
PHP can encrypt data

With PHP you are not limited to output HTML. You can output images, PDF files, and even Flash movies. You can also output any text, such as XHTML and XML.