How to Run a PHP Without a Web Server

How can I run a php without a web server?

You should normally be able to run a php file (after a successful installation) just by running this command:

$ /path/to/php myfile.php // unix way
C:\php\php.exe myfile.php // windows way

You can read more about running PHP in CLI mode here.

It's worth adding that PHP from version 5.4 onwards is able to run a web server on its own. You can do it by running this code in a folder which you want to serve the pages from:

$ php -S localhost:8000

You can read more about running a PHP in a Web Server mode here.

Can I run PHP without a web server

You can install XAMPP or WAMPP on Windows. If using linux based distribution check for apache or ngnix . You can put you PHP files in server root and execute on your local system.

run php as server without Apache

I don't know why your question was voted down. I see it as a question for focusing on a slightly broader but highly related question: Why should we be extremely careful to only allow specific software onto public-facing infrastructure? And, even more generally, what sort of software is okay to place onto public-facing infrastructure? And its corollary, what does good server software look like?

First off, there is no such thing as secure software. This means you should always hold a very skeptical view of anything that opens a single port on a computer to enable network connections (in either direction). However, there is a very small set of software that has had enough eyeballs on it to guarantee a certain minimum level of assurance that things will probably not go horribly wrong. Apache is the most battle-tested server out there and Nginx comes in at a close second as far as modern web servers are concerned. The built-in PHP HTTP server is not a good choice for a public-facing system let alone testing production software as it lacks the qualities of good network server design and may have undiscovered security vulnerabilities in it. For those and other reasons, the developers include a warning against using the built-in PHP server. It was added because users kept asking for it but that doesn't mean it should be used.

It is also a good idea to not trust network servers written by someone who doesn't know what they are doing. I frequently see ill-conceived network servers written in Node or Go, typically WebSocket-based solutions or just used to work around some issue with another piece of software, that implicitly opens security holes in the infrastructure even if the author didn't intend to do so. Just because someone can do something doesn't mean that they should and, when it comes to writing network servers, they shouldn't. Frequently those servers are proxied behind Apache or Nginx, which affords some defense against standard attacks. However, once an attacker gets past the defenses of Apache or Nginx, it's up to the software to provide its own defenses, which, sadly, is almost always significantly lacking. As a result, any time I see a proxied service running on a host, I brace myself for the inevitable security disaster that awaits - Ruby, Node, and Go developers being the biggest offenders. The moment a developer decides to write a network server is the moment they've probably chosen the wrong strategy unless they have a very specific reason to do so AND must be aware of and prepared to defend against a wide range of attack scenarios. A developer needs to be well-versed in a wide variety of disciplines before taking on the extremely difficult task of writing a network server, scalable or otherwise. It is my experience that few developers out there are actually capable of that task without introducing major security holes into their own or their users' infrastructure. While the PHP core developers generally know what they are doing elsewhere, I have personally found several critical bugs in their core networking logic, which shows that they are collectively lacking in that department. Therefore their built-in web server should be used sparingly, if at all.

Beyond security, Apache and Nginx are designed to handle "load" more so than the built-in PHP server. What load means is the answer to the question of, "How many requests per second can be serviced?" The answer is actually extremely complicated. Depending on code complexity, what is being hosted, what hardware is in use, and what is running at any point in time, a single host can handle anywhere from 20 to 20,000 requests per second and that number can vary greatly from moment to moment. Apache comes with a tool called Apache Bench (ab) that can be used to benchmark performance of a web server. However, benchmarks should always be taken with a grain of salt and viewed from the perspective of "Can we get this application to go any faster?" rather than "My application is faster than yours."

As far as developing software in PHP goes (since SO is a programming question site), I recommend trying to mirror your production environment as best as possible. If Apache will be running remotely, then running Apache locally provides the best simulation of the real thing so that there aren't a bunch of last-minute surprises. PHP code running under the Apache module may have significantly different behavior than PHP code running under the built-in PHP server (e.g. $_SERVER differences)!

If you are like me and don't like setting up Apache and PHP and don't need Apache running all the time, I maintain a set of scripts for setting up portable versions of Apache, PHP, and Maria DB (roughly equivalent to MySQL) for Windows over here:

https://github.com/cubiclesoft/portable-apache-maria-db-php-for-windows/

If your software application is actually intended to be run using the built-in PHP server (e.g. a localhost only server), then I highly recommend introducing a buffer layer such as the CubicleSoft WebServer class:

https://github.com/cubiclesoft/ultimate-web-scraper/

By using a PHP userland class like that one, you can gain certain assurances that the built-in PHP server cannot provide while still being a pure PHP solution (i.e. no extra dependencies): Fewer, if any, buffer overflow opportunities, the server is interpreted through the Zend Engine resulting in fewer rogue code execution opportunities, and has more features than the built-in server including complete customization of the server request/response cycle itself. PHP itself can start such a server during an OS boot by utilizing a tool similar to Service Manager:

https://github.com/cubiclesoft/service-manager/

Of course, that all means that a user has to trust your application's code that opened a port to run on their computer. For example, what happens if a website starts port scanning localhost ports via the user's web browser? And, if they do find the port that your software is running on, can that website start deleting files or run code that installs malware? It's the unusual exploits that will really trip you up. A "zero open ports" with "disconnected network cable/disabled WiFi" strategy is the only known way to truly secure a device. Every open port and established connection carries risk.

Good network-enabled software will have been battle-tested and hardened against a wide range of attacks. Writing such software is a responsibility that takes a lot of time to get right and it will generally show if it is done wrong. PHP's built-in server feels sloppy and lacks basic configuration options. I can't recommend its use for any reasonable purpose.

Running php script without web Server

You can run PHP scripts without a web server. PHP doesn't have anything to do with web servers.

You need to download PHP, of course. And then you can configure Eclipse to run your scripts in the command line. See

http://www.php.net/manual/en/features.commandline.usage.php

for command line usage of PHP

Is there any way to test PHP locally without installing a server?

There's no need for a server if using PHP 5.5+ - it has a built-in server (http://www.php.net/manual/en/features.commandline.webserver.php)

Just use:

$ cd ~/public_html
$ php -S localhost:8000

Does HTML5 wih php require a webserver?

Yes. PHP requires a web server to run on.

You can run it on your own computer; the web server doesn't have to be connected to the internet while you are creating and testing your PHP scripts off your local machine. You can read more about this on the official PHP What do I need page

You can download one of the following local servers:

Windows: WAMP
OSX: MAMP
Linux: LAMP
XAMPP is also an option, it's cross-platform (as referenced by ATechGuy)

Here is a good explanation of Why a web server is required to run PHP. Basically it is because PHP is a dynamic server-side scripting language.

However if you just want to run simple PHP scripts, with no web pages. This is possible without a web server running. See this question: How can I run a php without a web server?

run PHP code inside HTML without using xampp and apache?

Unfortunately, this will not be possible as PHP is a server side language. As such, you will have to have an application to serve the content. With HTML, you are able to open it directly and display as the client (Browser) is able to read it directly. Browsers do not read PHP - when the server compiles the PHP, it is only sending the DOM (HTML, etc.) to the browser.

Run PHP code on Sublime Text without being connected to a server?

Any web page containing the php script should be saved with extension '.php'.
This type of file is fetched by the web server to the browser view. Locally, you need to install a web server (eg. apache) in your device so that you can fetch the contents of the script locally. So, the basic things to be noted are ::

All pages containing (HTML escape or php script) must have to be saved with .php extension
.php files are fetched by web server (either on local device or over internet) so you need web server service installed if you want to work on local
The best way to do so is install respective web server solution package ::
- XAMPP for cross-platform
- MAMPP for Mac users
- WAMPP for Windows
- LAMPP for Linux

After you have successfully installed and configured the above mentioned package, you have to run the php files on the browser over the localhost (which will serve as local web server).

Try installing the web server solution package that suits your device. You will get to learn a lot on the process.

P.S. Regarding sublime, it is just a editor. It is just used to write the codes in simple and easy way.

How to run an php application without installing xampp on client system?

I'm a big fan of server2go. I've used it to deploy PHP applications on CD/DVD. It comes with MySQL and is relatively easy to configure. I've even replaced their splash screen with my own so no one knows I'm using it. It's donationware, but I was impressed enough to donate:

server2go-web

With this application, you don't have to install all that other stuff. It's self-contained in this executable and directory.

EDIT: To clarify, server2go does not install anything on the client machine. It runs as an exe only when you specifically want it to. When you click on the .exe file, it launches your PHP application in a browser window, then you can right-click on the server2go icon in the system tray and close it when you're done.

EDIT2: One gotcha: if you want to save data to the MySQL db on the client machine, you'll need to copy serve2go to a directory on the client machine or run it on a writable USB stick. If you run this application off CD/DVD, it will be able to read data from the database, but not write.