Server-side scripting is a web server technology in which a user's request is fulfilled by running a script directly on the web server

to generate dynamic web pages. It is usually used to provide interactive web sites that interface to databases or other data
stores. This is different from client-side scripting where scripts are run by the viewing web browser, usually in JavaScript. The
primary advantage to server-side scripting is the ability to highly customize the response based on the user's requirements,
access rights, or queries into data stores.
From security point of view, server-side scripts are never visible to the browser as these scripts are executes on the server and
emit HTML corresponding to user's input to the page.

In the earlier days of the web, server-side scripting was almost exclusively performed by using a combination of C programs, Perl
scripts and shell scripts using the Common Gateway Interface (CGI). Those scripts were executed by the operating system,
mnemonic coding and the results simply served back by the web server. Nowadays, these and other on-line scripting languages
such as ASP and PHP can often be executed directly by the web server itself or by extension modules (e.g. mod_perl or mod
php) to the web server. Either form of scripting (i.e., CGI or direct execution) can be used to build up complex multi-page sites,
but direct execution usually results in lower overhead due to the lack of calls to external interpreters

Some server-side scripting languages:

 ASP
 ANSI C scripts
 ColdFusion Markup Language (*.cfm)
 Java via JavaServer Pages (*.jsp)
 JavaScript using Server-side JavaScript (*.ssjs)
 PHP (*.php)
 SMX (*.smx)
 Lasso (*.lasso)
 WebDNA (*.dna,*.tpl)
 Progress® WebSpeed® (*.r,*.w)

PHP is a powerful tool for making dynamic and interactive Web pages.
PHP is the widely-used, free, and efficient alternative to competitors such as Microsoft's ASP.
PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor is a widely used, general-purpose scripting language that was originally designed for web
development to produce dynamic web pages. For this purpose, PHP code is embedded into the HTML source document and
interpreted by a web server with a PHP processor module, which generates the web page document. As a general-purpose
programming language, PHP code is processed by an interpreter application in command-line mode performing desired
operating system operations and producing program output on its standard output channel. It may also function as a graphical
application. PHP is available as a processor for most modern web servers and as a standalone interpreter on most operating
systems and computing platforms.
PHP was originally created by Rasmus Lerdorf in 1995[1][2] and has been in continuous development ever since. The main
implementation of PHP is now produced by the PHP Group and serves as the de facto standard for PHP as there is no formal
specification.[3] PHP is free software released under the PHP License.
PHP originally stood for personal home page. Its development began in 1994 when the Danish/Greenlandic programmer
Rasmus Lerdorf initially created a set of Perl scripts he called 'Personal Home Page Tools' to maintain his personal homepage,
including tasks such as displaying his résumé and recording how much traffic his page was receiving. He rewrote these scripts
as C programming language Common Gateway Interface (CGI) binaries, extending them to add the ability to work with web
forms and to communicate with databases and called this implementation 'Personal Home Page/Forms Interpreter' or PHP/FI.
PHP/FI could be used to build simple, dynamic web applications.

PHP is a general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited to server-side web development where PHP generally runs
on a web server. Any PHP code in a requested file is executed by the PHP runtime, usually to create dynamic web page content.
It can also be used for command-line scripting and client-side GUI applications. PHP can be deployed on most web servers,
many operating systems and platforms, and can be used with many relational database management systems (RDBMS). It is
available free of charge, and the PHP Group provides the complete source code for users to build, customize and extend for
their own use.
What is PHP?
 PHP stands for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor
 PHP is a server-side scripting language, like ASP
 PHP scripts are executed on the server
 PHP supports many databases (MySQL, Informix, Oracle, Sybase, Solid, PostgreSQL, Generic ODBC, etc.)
 PHP is an open source software
 PHP is free to download and use

What is a PHP File?

 PHP files can contain text, HTML tags and scripts
 PHP files are returned to the browser as plain HTML 
 PHP files have a file extension of ".php", ".php3", or ".phtml"

What is MySQL?
 MySQL is a database server
 MySQL is ideal for both small and large applications
 MySQL supports standard SQL
 MySQL compiles on a number of platforms
 MySQL is free to download and use
PHP + MySQL
 PHP combined with MySQL are cross-platform (you can develop in Windows and serve on a Unix platform)

Why PHP?
 PHP runs on different platforms (Windows, Linux, Unix, etc.)
 PHP is compatible with almost all servers used today (Apache, IIS, etc.)
 PHP is FREE to download from the official PHP resource: www.php.net
 PHP is easy to learn and runs efficiently on the server side

Where to Start?

To get access to a web server with PHP support, you can:

 Install Apache (or IIS) on your own server, install PHP, and MySQL
 Or find a web hosting plan with PHP and MySQL support

Basic PHP Syntax

 A PHP scripting block always starts with <?php and ends with ?>. A PHP scripting block can be placed anywhere in
the document.
 On servers with shorthand support enabled you can start a scripting block with <? and end with ?>.
 For maximum compatibility, we recommend that you use the standard form (<?php) rather than the shorthand form.
<?php
?>
 A PHP file normally contains HTML tags, just like an HTML file, and some PHP scripting code.
 Below, we have an example of a simple PHP script which sends the text "Hello World" to the browser:
<html>
<body>

<?php
echo "Hello World";
?>

</body>
</html>
 Each code line in PHP must end with a semicolon. The semicolon is a separator and is used to distinguish one set of
instructions from another.
 There are two basic statements to output text with PHP: echo and print. In the example above we have used the echo
statement to output the text "Hello World".
 Note: The file must have a .php extension. If the file has a .html extension, the PHP code will not be executed.

Comments in PHP

 In PHP, we use // to make a single-line comment or /* and */ to make a large comment block.
 <html>
<body>

<?php
//This is a comment

/*
This is
a comment
block
*/
?>

</body>
</html>

A variable is used to store information.

Variables in PHP

Variables are used for storing values, like text strings, numbers or arrays.
When a variable is declared, it can be used over and over again in your script.
All variables in PHP start with a $ sign symbol.
The correct way of declaring a variable in PHP:
$var_name = value;
New PHP programmers often forget the $ sign at the beginning of the variable. In that case it will not work.
Let's try creating a variable containing a string, and a variable containing a number:
<?php
$txt="Hello World!";
$x=16;
?>

PHP is a Loosely Typed Language

In PHP, a variable does not need to be declared before adding a value to it.
In the example above, you see that you do not have to tell PHP which data type the variable is.
PHP automatically converts the variable to the correct data type, depending on its value.
In a strongly typed programming language, you have to declare (define) the type and name of the variable before using it.
In PHP, the variable is declared automatically when you use it.

Naming Rules for Variables

 A variable name must start with a letter or an underscore "_"

 A variable name can only contain alpha-numeric characters and underscores (a-z, A-Z, 0-9, and _ )
 A variable name should not contain spaces. If a variable name is more than one word, it should be separated with an
underscore ($my_string), or with capitalization ($myString)

A string variable is used to store and manipulate text.

String Variables in PHP

String variables are used for values that contains characters.
After we create a string we can manipulate it. A string can be used directly in a function or it can be stored in a variable.
Below, the PHP script assigns the text "Hello World" to a string variable called $txt:
<?php
$txt="Hello World";
echo $txt;
?>
The output of the code above will be:
Hello World

The Concatenation Operator

There is only one string operator in PHP.

The concatenation operator (.)  is used to put two string values together.
To concatenate two string variables together, use the concatenation operator:
<?php
$txt1="Hello World!";
$txt2="What a nice day!";
echo $txt1 . " " . $txt2;
?>
The output of the code above will be:
Hello World! What a nice day!
If we look at the code above you see that we used the concatenation operator two times. This is because we had to insert a third
string (a space character), to separate the two strings.

The strlen() function

The strlen() function is used to return the length of a string.

Let's find the length of a string:
<?php
echo strlen("Hello world!");
?>
The output of the code above will be:
12
The length of a string is often used in loops or other functions, when it is important to know when the string ends. (i.e. in a loop,
we would want to stop the loop after the last character in the string).

The strpos() function

The strpos() function is used to search for character within a string.

If a match is found, this function will return the position of the first match. If no match is found, it will return FALSE.
Let's see if we can find the string "world" in our string:
<?php
echo strpos("Hello world!","world");
?>
The output of the code above will be:
6
The position of the string "world" in our string is position 6. The reason that it is 6 (and not 7), is because the first position in the
string is 0, and not 1.

Operators are used to operate on values.

PHP Operators

This section lists the different operators used in PHP.

Arithmetic Operators
Operator Description Example Result
+ Addition x=2 4
x+2
- Subtraction x=2 3
5-x
* Multiplication x=4 20
x*5
/ Division 15/5 3
5/2 2.5
% Modulus (division remainder) 5%2 1
10%8 2
10%2 0
++ Increment x=5 x=6
x++
-- Decrement x=5 x=4
x--

Assignment Operators
Operator Example Is The Same As
= x=y x=y
+= x+=y x=x+y
-= x-=y x=x-y
*= x*=y x=x*y
/= x/=y x=x/y
.= x.=y x=x.y
%= x%=y x=x%y
Comparison Operators
Operator Description Example
== is equal to 5==8 returns false
!= is not equal 5!=8 returns true
<> is not equal 5<>8 returns true
> is greater than 5>8 returns false
< is less than 5<8 returns true
>= is greater than or equal to 5>=8 returns false
<= is less than or equal to 5<=8 returns true

Logical Operators
Operator Description Example
&& and x=6
y=3
(x < 10 && y > 1) returns true
|| or x=6
y=3
(x==5 || y==5) returns false
! not x=6
y=3
!(x==y) returns true
Conditional statements are used to perform different actions based on different conditions.

Conditional Statements

Very often when you write code, you want to perform different actions for different decisions.
You can use conditional statements in your code to do this.
In PHP we have the following conditional statements:
 if statement - use this statement to execute some code only if a specified condition is true
 if...else statement - use this statement to execute some code if a condition is true and another code if the condition is
false
 if...elseif....else statement - use this statement to select one of several blocks of code to be executed
 switch statement - use this statement to select one of many blocks of code to be executed

The if Statement

Use the if statement to execute some code only if a specified condition is true.
Syntax
if (condition) code to be executed if condition is true;
The following example will output "Have a nice weekend!" if the current day is Friday:
<html>
<body>

<?php
$d=date("D");
if ($d=="Fri") echo "Have a nice weekend!";
?>

</body>
</html>
Notice that there is no ..else.. in this syntax. The code is executed only if the specified condition is true.

The if...else Statement

Use the if....else statement to execute some code if a condition is true and another code if a condition is false.
Syntax
if (condition)
  code to be executed if condition is true;
else
  code to be executed if condition is false;
Example
The following example will output "Have a nice weekend!" if the current day is Friday, otherwise it will output "Have a nice day!":
<html>
<body>

<?php
$d=date("D");
if ($d=="Fri")
  echo "Have a nice weekend!";
else
  echo "Have a nice day!";
?>
</body>
</html>
If more than one line should be executed if a condition is true/false, the lines should be enclosed within curly braces:
<html>
<body>

<?php
$d=date("D");
if ($d=="Fri")
  {
  echo "Hello!<br />";
  echo "Have a nice weekend!";
  echo "See you on Monday!";
  }
?>

</body>
</html>

The if...elseif....else Statement

Use the if....elseif...else statement to select one of several blocks of code to be executed.
Syntax
if (condition)
  code to be executed if condition is true;
elseif (condition)
  code to be executed if condition is true;
else
  code to be executed if condition is false;
Example
The following example will output "Have a nice weekend!" if the current day is Friday, and "Have a nice Sunday!" if the current
day is Sunday. Otherwise it will output "Have a nice day!":
<html>
<body>

<?php
$d=date("D");
if ($d=="Fri")
  echo "Have a nice weekend!";
elseif ($d=="Sun")
  echo "Have a nice Sunday!";
else
  echo "Have a nice day!";
?>

</body>
</html>

The PHP Switch Statement

Use the switch statement to select one of many blocks of code to be executed.
Syntax
switch (n)
{
case label1:
  code to be executed if n=label1;
  break;
case label2:
  code to be executed if n=label2;
  break;
default:
  code to be executed if n is different from both label1 and label2;
}
This is how it works: First we have a single expression n (most often a variable), that is evaluated once. The value of the
expression is then compared with the values for each case in the structure. If there is a match, the block of code associated with
that case is executed. Use break to prevent the code from running into the next case automatically. The default statement is
used if no match is found.
Example
<html>
<body>

<?php
switch ($x)
{
case 1:
  echo "Number 1";
  break;
case 2:
  echo "Number 2";
  break;
case 3:
  echo "Number 3";
  break;
default:
  echo "No number between 1 and 3";
}
?>

</body>
</html>
An array stores multiple values in one single variable.

What is an Array?

A variable is a storage area holding a number or text. The problem is, a variable will hold only one value.
An array is a special variable, which can store multiple values in one single variable.
If you have a list of items (a list of car names, for example), storing the cars in single variables could look like this:
$cars1="Saab";
$cars2="Volvo";
$cars3="BMW";
However, what if you want to loop through the cars and find a specific one? And what if you had not 3 cars, but 300?
The best solution here is to use an array!
An array can hold all your variable values under a single name. And you can access the values by referring to the array name.
Each element in the array has its own index so that it can be easily accessed.
In PHP, there are three kind of arrays:
 Numeric array - An array with a numeric index
 Associative array - An array where each ID key is associated with a value
 Multidimensional array - An array containing one or more arrays

Numeric Arrays

A numeric array stores each array element with a numeric index.

There are two methods to create a numeric array.
1. In the following example the index are automatically assigned (the index starts at 0):
$cars=array("Saab","Volvo","BMW","Toyota");
2. In the following example we assign the index manually:
$cars[0]="Saab";
$cars[1]="Volvo";
$cars[2]="BMW";
$cars[3]="Toyota";
Example
In the following example you access the variable values by referring to the array name and index:
<?php
$cars[0]="Saab";
$cars[1]="Volvo";
$cars[2]="BMW";
$cars[3]="Toyota";
echo $cars[0] . " and " . $cars[1] . " are Swedish cars.";
?>
The code above will output:
Saab and Volvo are Swedish cars.

Associative Arrays

An associative array, each ID key is associated with a value.

When storing data about specific named values, a numerical array is not always the best way to do it.
With associative arrays we can use the values as keys and assign values to them.
Example 1
In this example we use an array to assign ages to the different persons:
$ages = array("Peter"=>32, "Quagmire"=>30, "Joe"=>34);
Example 2
This example is the same as example 1, but shows a different way of creating the array:
$ages['Peter'] = "32";
$ages['Quagmire'] = "30";
$ages['Joe'] = "34";
The ID keys can be used in a script:
<?php
$ages['Peter'] = "32";
$ages['Quagmire'] = "30";
$ages['Joe'] = "34";
echo "Peter is " . $ages['Peter'] . " years old.";
?>
The code above will output:
Peter is 32 years old.

Multidimensional Arrays

In a multidimensional array, each element in the main array can also be an array. And each element in the sub-array can be an
array, and so on.
Example
In this example we create a multidimensional array, with automatically assigned ID keys:
$families = array
  (
  "Griffin"=>array
  (
  "Peter",
  "Lois",
  "Megan"
  ),
  "Quagmire"=>array
  (
  "Glenn"
  ),
  "Brown"=>array
  (
  "Cleveland",
  "Loretta",
  "Junior"
  )
  );
The array above would look like this if written to the output:
Array
(
[Griffin] => Array
  (
  [0] => Peter
  [1] => Lois
  [2] => Megan
  )
[Quagmire] => Array
  (
  [0] => Glenn
  )
[Brown] => Array
  (
  [0] => Cleveland
  [1] => Loretta
  [2] => Junior
  )
)
Example 2
Lets try displaying a single value from the array above:
echo "Is " . $families['Griffin'][2] .
" a part of the Griffin family?";
The code above will output:
Is Megan a part of the Griffin family?

Loops execute a block of code a specified number of times, or while a specified condition is true.

PHP Loops

Often when you write code, you want the same block of code to run over and over again in a row. Instead of adding several
almost equal lines in a script we can use loops to perform a task like this.
In PHP, we have the following looping statements:
 while - loops through a block of code while a specified condition is true
 do...while - loops through a block of code once, and then repeats the loop as long as a specified condition is true
 for - loops through a block of code a specified number of times
 foreach - loops through a block of code for each element in an array

The while Loop

The while loop executes a block of code while a condition is true.

Syntax
while (condition)
 {
  code to be executed;
 }
Example
The example below defines a loop that starts with i=1. The loop will continue to run as long as i is less than, or equal to 5. i will
increase by 1 each time the loop runs:
<html>
<body>

<?php
$i=1;
while($i<=5)
  {
  echo "The number is " . $i . "<br />";
  $i++;
  }
?>

</body>
</html>
Output:
The number is 1
The number is 2
The number is 3
The number is 4
The number is 5
The do...while Statement

The do...while statement will always execute the block of code once, it will then check the condition, and repeat the loop while
the condition is true.
Syntax
do
 {
  code to be executed;
 }
while (condition);
Example
The example below defines a loop that starts with i=1. It will then increment i with 1, and write some output. Then the condition is
checked, and the loop will continue to run as long as i is less than, or equal to 5:
<html>
<body>

<?php
$i=1;
do
  {
  $i++;
  echo "The number is " . $i . "<br />";
  }
while ($i<=5);
?>

</body>
</html>
Output:
The number is 2
The number is 3
The number is 4
The number is 5
The number is 6
The for Loop

The for loop is used when you know in advance how many times the script should run.
Syntax
for (init; condition; increment)
 {
  code to be executed;
 }
Parameters:
 init: Mostly used to set a counter (but can be any code to be executed once at the beginning of the loop)
 condition: Evaluated for each loop iteration. If it evaluates to TRUE, the loop continues. If it evaluates to FALSE, the
loop ends.
 increment: Mostly used to increment a counter (but can be any code to be executed at the end of the loop)
Note: Each of the parameters above can be empty, or have multiple expressions (separated by commas).
Example
The example below defines a loop that starts with i=1. The loop will continue to run as long as i is less than, or equal to 5. i will
increase by 1 each time the loop runs:
<html>
<body>

<?php
for ($i=1; $i<=5; $i++)
 {
  echo "The number is " . $i . "<br />";
 }
?>

</body>
</html>
Output:
The number is 1
The number is 2
The number is 3
The number is 4
The number is 5

The foreach Loop

The foreach loop is used to loop through arrays.

Syntax
foreach ($array as $value)
 {
  code to be executed;
 }
For every loop iteration, the value of the current array element is assigned to $value (and the array pointer is moved by one) - so
on the next loop iteration, you'll be looking at the next array value.
Example
The following example demonstrates a loop that will print the values of the given array:
<html>
<body>

<?php
$x=array("one","two","three");
foreach ($x as $value)
 {
  echo $value . "<br />";
 }
?>

</body>
</html>
Output:
one
two
three
The real power of PHP comes from its functions.
In PHP, there are more than 700 built-in functions.

PHP Functions

To keep the script from being executed when the page loads, you can put it into a function.
A function will be executed by a call to the function.
You may call a function from anywhere within a page.

Create a PHP Function

A function will be executed by a call to the function.

Syntax
function functionName()
{
code to be executed;
}

PHP function guidelines:

 Give the function a name that reflects what the function does
 The function name can start with a letter or underscore (not a number)
Example
A simple function that writes my name when it is called:
<html>
<body>

<?php
function writeName()
{
echo "Kai Jim Refsnes";
}

echo "My name is ";

writeName();
?>

</body>
</html>
Output:
My name is Kai Jim Refsnes

PHP Functions - Adding parameters

To add more functionality to a function, we can add parameters. A parameter is just like a variable.
Parameters are specified after the function name, inside the parentheses.
Example 1
The following example will write different first names, but equal last name:
<html>
<body>

<?php
 function writeName($fname)
{
echo $fname . " Refsnes.<br />";
}

echo "My name is ";

writeName("Kai Jim");
echo "My sister's name is ";
writeName("Hege");
echo "My brother's name is ";
writeName("Stale");
?>

</body>
</html>
Output:
My name is Kai Jim Refsnes.
My sister's name is Hege Refsnes.
My brother's name is Stale Refsnes.
Example 2
The following function has two parameters:
<html>
<body>

<?php
function writeName($fname,$punctuation)
{
echo $fname . " Refsnes" . $punctuation . "<br />";
}

echo "My name is ";

writeName("Kai Jim",".");
echo "My sister's name is ";
writeName("Hege","!");
echo "My brother's name is ";
writeName("Ståle","?");
?>

</body>
</html>
Output:
My name is Kai Jim Refsnes.
My sister's name is Hege Refsnes!
My brother's name is Ståle Refsnes?
 

PHP Functions - Return values

To let a function return a value, use the return statement.

Example
<html>
<body>

<?php
function add($x,$y)
{
$total=$x+$y;
return $total;
}

echo "1 + 16 = " . add(1,16);

?>

</body>
</html>
Output:
1 + 16 = 17
The PHP $_GET and $_POST variables are used to retrieve information from forms, like user input.

PHP Form Handling

The most important thing to notice when dealing with HTML forms and PHP is that any form element in an HTML page will
automatically be available to your PHP scripts.
Example
The example below contains an HTML form with two input fields and a submit button:
<html>
<body>

<form action="welcome.php" method="post">

Name: <input type="text" name="fname" />
Age: <input type="text" name="age" />
<input type="submit" />
</form>

</body>
</html>
When a user fills out the form above and click on the submit button, the form data is sent to a PHP file, called "welcome.php":
"welcome.php" looks like this:
<html>
<body>

Welcome <?php echo $_POST["fname"]; ?>!<br />

You are <?php echo $_POST["age"]; ?> years old.

</body>
</html>
Output could be something like this:
Welcome John!
You are 28 years old.
Form Validation

User input should be validated on the browser whenever possible (by client scripts). Browser validation is faster and reduces the
server load.
You should consider server validation if the user input will be inserted into a database. A good way to validate a form on the
server is to post the form to itself, instead of jumping to a different page. The user will then get the error messages on the same
page as the form. This makes it easier to discover the error.

The $_GET Function

The built-in $_GET function is used to collect values from a form sent with method="get".
Information sent from a form with the GET method is visible to everyone (it will be displayed in the browser's address bar) and
has limits on the amount of information to send.
Example
<form action="welcome.php" method="get">
Name: <input type="text" name="fname" />
Age: <input type="text" name="age" />
<input type="submit" />
</form>
When the user clicks the "Submit" button, the URL sent to the server could look something like this:
http://www.w3schools.com/welcome.php?fname=Peter&age=37
The "welcome.php" file can now use the $_GET function to collect form data (the names of the form fields will automatically be
the keys in the $_GET array):
Welcome <?php echo $_GET["fname"]; ?>.<br />
You are <?php echo $_GET["age"]; ?> years old!

When to use method="get"?

When using method="get" in HTML forms, all variable names and values are displayed in the URL.
Note: This method should not be used when sending passwords or other sensitive information!
However, because the variables are displayed in the URL, it is possible to bookmark the page. This can be useful in some cases.
Note: The get method is not suitable for very large variable values. It should not be used with values exceeding 2000 characters.

The $_POST Function

The built-in $_POST function is used to collect values from a form sent with method="post".
Information sent from a form with the POST method is invisible to others and has no limits on the amount of information to send.
Note: However, there is an 8 Mb max size for the POST method, by default (can be changed by setting the post_max_size in the
php.ini file).
Example
<form action="welcome.php" method="post">
Name: <input type="text" name="fname" />
Age: <input type="text" name="age" />
<input type="submit" />
</form>
When the user clicks the "Submit" button, the URL will look like this:
http://www.w3schools.com/welcome.php
The "welcome.php" file can now use the $_POST function to collect form data (the names of the form fields will automatically be
the keys in the $_POST array):
Welcome <?php echo $_POST["fname"]; ?>!<br />
You are <?php echo $_POST["age"]; ?> years old.

When to use method="post"?

Information sent from a form with the POST method is invisible to others and has no limits on the amount of information to send.
However, because the variables are not displayed in the URL, it is not possible to bookmark the page.

The PHP $_REQUEST Function

The PHP built-in $_REQUEST function contains the contents of both $_GET, $_POST, and $_COOKIE.
The $_REQUEST function can be used to collect form data sent with both the GET and POST methods.
Example
Welcome <?php echo $_REQUEST["fname"]; ?>!<br />
You are <?php echo $_REQUEST["age"]; ?> years old.