Installing PHP

Introduction

Before you can write and run PHP code, PHP itself needs to be installed on your machine. There are a few ways to do this, ranging from a fully manual setup using the official installers to all-in-one bundles that install PHP alongside a web server and database (which the next lesson covers in detail).

This lesson focuses on the manual route: downloading PHP directly from the official source, confirming it installed correctly, and understanding why PHP normally needs a web server — plus a shortcut that lets you skip that requirement while learning.

Downloading PHP from php.net

The official source for PHP is php.net. On Windows, the "Windows downloads" section provides pre-built zip packages (choose the "Thread Safe" version if you plan to use it with Apache as a module). On macOS and Linux, PHP is more commonly installed through a package manager — Homebrew on macOS, or apt/yum on Linux — which pulls from the same underlying PHP source releases.

This manual route is considered "advanced" because you are responsible for configuring PHP yourself: setting up your system PATH, choosing a php.ini configuration file, and — as you will see shortly — pairing PHP with a web server. Beginners are usually better served by an all-in-one stack, which the next lesson covers.

# macOS (Homebrew)
brew install php

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt update
sudo apt install php

Verifying Your Installation

Once PHP is installed, the fastest way to confirm it worked is to open a terminal (Command Prompt, PowerShell, or a Unix shell) and check its version.

php --version

PHP 8.3.10 (cli) (built: Jul 15 2026 10:22:41) ( NTS )
Copyright (c) The PHP Group
Zend Engine v4.3.10, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies
    with Zend OPcache v8.3.10, Copyright (c), by Zend Technologies

Why PHP Needs a Web Server

Having PHP installed lets you run PHP scripts from the command line, but real websites are accessed through a browser via a URL like http://localhost/page.php. Turning a raw PHP file into something a browser can request over HTTP is the job of a web server — most commonly Apache or Nginx.

The web server listens for incoming HTTP requests, and when it sees a request for a .php file, it hands that file off to the PHP interpreter (often through something called PHP-FPM, or as an Apache module) to execute. The server then sends the resulting HTML back to the browser.

Setting up Apache or Nginx by hand can be fiddly, which is exactly the problem all-in-one stacks like XAMPP solve — that is the focus of the next lesson.

The Built-in Development Server

For quick testing and learning, PHP ships with its own lightweight development server built in — no Apache or Nginx required. It is not meant for production use, but it is perfect for trying out scripts locally.

cd my-project
php -S localhost:8000

[Sun Jul 26 10:00:00 2026] PHP 8.3.10 Development Server (http://localhost:8000) started

With that running, visiting http://localhost:8000/hello.php in your browser will execute hello.php and show its output — no separate web server installation needed.

Example: Running a File Directly

You can also run a PHP file directly from the command line without any server at all, which is useful for quick scripts and testing logic.

<?php
echo "Hello from the PHP CLI!\n";
echo "PHP version: " . phpversion();

php greet.php

Hello from the PHP CLI!
PHP version: 8.3.10

Common Mistakes

Best Practices

Frequently Asked Questions

Key Takeaways

Summary

Getting PHP installed and verified is the first concrete step toward writing real PHP code. Whether you install it manually from php.net or rely on the built-in development server for quick tests, the goal is the same: confirm PHP runs on your machine before building anything bigger.

In this lesson, you downloaded and verified PHP, and learned why a web server is normally part of the picture. Next, you will set up a complete, beginner-friendly stack — XAMPP, WAMP, or LAMP — that bundles PHP with Apache and MySQL.