Installation Of  PHP

Installing PHP on your computer allows you to safely develop and test a web application without affecting the live system.

To work with PHP locally, you need to have the following software AMP (Apache, MySQL, PHP):

• PHP
• A web server that supports PHP. We’ll use the Apache webserver.
• A database server. We’ll use the MySQL database server.

Typically, you won’t install all this software separately because connecting them is tricky and not intended for beginners.

There are many AMP options available in the market that are given below:

• WAMP for Windows
• LAMP for Linux
• MAMP for Mac
• SAMP for Solaris
• FAMP for FreeBSD
• XAMPP (Cross, Apache, MySQL, PHP, Perl) for Cross Platform: It includes some other components too such as FileZilla, OpenSSL, Webalizer, Mercury Mail, etc.

XAMPP is an easy install Apache distribution that contains PHP, MariaDB, and Apache webserver. XAMPP supports Windows, Linux, and macOS.

If you are on Windows and don't want Perl and other features of XAMPP, you should go for WAMP.

Why Do You Need a Local Server?

PHP needs to be run on a server. Since we are working locally (on your own computer), we need a local server environment like XAMPP, WAMP, or MAMP. These bundles provide everything you need to run PHP, including the Apache web server and MySQL database.

Choosing Between XAMPP, WAMP, and MAMP

XAMPP works on Windows, macOS, and Linux, making it the most versatile choice.

WAMP is designed specifically for Windows users.

MAMP is tailored for macOS users, though it also has a Windows version.

All of these software packages are free and relatively easy to install.

Download XAMPP

To install XAMPP on windows, you can go to the XAMPP official website and download the suitable version for your platform.

Install XAMPP on Windows

To install XAMPP on Windows, you can follow these steps:

Step 1. Start the installation

Double-click the downloaded file to start setting up XAMPP:

Step 2. Select components to install

Select the components that you want to install. In this step, you can select Apache, MySQL, PHP, and phpMyAdmin, deselect other components like the following, and click the Next button to go to the next step.

Step 3. Specifying the installation folder

Select a folder to install XAMPP. It’s recommended to install XAMPP in the c:\xampp folder. Click the Next button to go to the next step.

Step 4. Selecting a language

Select a language for XAMPP Control Panel. By default, it’s English. And you can select your preferred language and click the Next button to go to the next step.

Step 5. Bitnami for XAMPP

Feel free to skip this step because you don’t need Bitnami for learning PHP. Just click the Next button to go to the next step.

Step 6. Begin installing XAMPP

And you’re now ready to install XAMPP. Click the Next button to start the installation. It’ll take a few minutes to complete.

Step 7. Completing the XAMPP setup

Once completed, the XAMPP setup wizard shows the following screen. You can click the Finish button to launch the XAMPP Control Panel:

Step 8. Completing the XAMPP setup

The XAMPP Control Panel lists installed services. To start a service, you click the corresponding Start button:

The following shows the Apache web server and MySQL are up and running. The Apache web server listens on the ports 80 and 443 while the MySQL listens on port 3306:

Step 9. Launch the XAMPP

Open the web browser and navigate to the following URL: http://localhost/. If the installation is completed successfully, you’ll see the welcome screen of the XAMPP.

 

Troubleshooting

By default, Apache uses port 80. However, if port 80 is used by another service, you’ll get an error like this:

In this case, you need to change the port from 80 to a free one, e.g., 8080. To do that, you follow these steps:

First, click the Config button that aligns with the Apache module:

Second, find the line that has the text Listen 80 and change the port from 80 to 8080 like this:

Third, click the Start button to start the Apache service. If the port is free, Apache should start properly, as shown in the following picture:

Starting XAMPP:

After installation, launch the XAMPP Control Panel.

Click on Start next to Apache (for the server) and MySQL (for the database).

Ensure both services turn green, indicating that they are running.

If  the services turn red , indicating that they are not  running.

Verify Installation:

Open a web browser and type http://localhost/. If everything is set up correctly, you should see the XAMPP dashboard.