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I'm trying to execute some PHP code on a project (using Dreamweaver) but the code isn't being run.

When I check the source code, the PHP code appears as HTML tags (I can see it in the source code). Apache is running properly (I'm working with XAMPP), the PHP pages are being opened properly but the PHP code isn't being executed.

Does someone have a suggestion about what is happening?

Note: The file is already named as filename.php

Edit: The Code..:

include_once("/code/configs.php"); Do you get any results from phpinfo?(See example 1, php.net/manual/en/function.phpinfo.php ) If you don't, you probably need to reconfigure apache. amccormack Feb 25, 2011 at 19:12 Don't EVER use short tags. ( <? ). They are deprecated, don't really work in a lot of places, and are otherwise completely unneccessary. Saving three keystrokes is not a valid reason to allow potential for your code to fail on probably half of the servers it may run on. mopsyd Feb 11, 2015 at 19:53 I am aware that short tags are not short echo tags, which is why I specified which I was talking about in the comment. At the time of writing, short tags were flagged for deprecation for the php 6 release, though that has apparently changed since. The problem still exists that a lot of servers have them disabled, which makes your code significantly less portable. This does not apply to short echo tags ( <?= ), which should run fine on php 5.4+ regardless of server settings. mopsyd Mar 18, 2016 at 0:44

Sounds like there is something wrong with your configuration, here are a few things you can check:

  • Make sure that PHP is installed and running correctly. This may sound silly, but you never know. An easy way to check is to run php -v from a command line and see if returns version information or any errors.

  • Make sure that the PHP module is listed and uncommented inside of your Apache's httpd.conf This should be something like LoadModule php5_module "c:/php/php5apache2_2.dll" in the file. Search for LoadModule php , and make sure that there is no comment ( ; ) in front of it.

  • Make sure that Apache's httpd.conf file has the PHP MIME type in it. This should be something like AddType application/x-httpd-php .php . This tells Apache to run .php files as PHP. Search for AddType, and then make sure there is an entry for PHP, and that it is uncommented .

  • Make sure your file has the .php extension on it, or whichever extension specified in the MIME definition in point #3, otherwise it will not be executed as PHP.

  • Make sure you are not using short tags in the PHP file ( <? ), these are not enabled on all servers by default and their use is discouraged. Use <?php instead (or enable short tags in your php.ini with short_open_tag=On if you have code that relies on them).

  • Make sure you are accessing your file over your webserver using an URL like http://localhost/file.php not via local file access file://localhost/www/file.php

  • And lastly check the PHP manual for further setup tips .

    Don't know why, but installer of PHP 5.3.15 doesn't add the line AddType application/x-httpd-php .php . Thanks a lot!! MatuDuke Jul 25, 2012 at 2:03 @shmeeps: Where have you seen that short tags are deprecated? I've done some searching and can only find recommendations against them, nothing about deprecation. Granted for applications which are to be distributed it is better to use <?php in case the hosting server doesn't have them enabled, but for apps where you have full control over the server they're going to be on I don't see any reason not to use them. ClarkeyBoy Oct 28, 2013 at 16:35 point 2 worked for me the safe way - apt-get purge apache2; apt-get install apache2 libapache-mod-php5 ulkas Sep 16, 2014 at 20:41 @full_prog_full Try uploading a file with a .php extension with the contents <?php echo("Success"); ?> and see if accessing the file through a web browser results in "Success" being displayed without the associated PHP code. shmeeps Apr 18, 2016 at 3:29 While this code snippet may solve the question, including an explanation of how and why this solves the problem would really help to improve the quality of your post. Remember that you are answering the question for readers in the future, not just the person asking now! Please edit your answer to add explanation, and give an indication of what limitations and assumptions apply. Toby Speight Feb 6, 2017 at 18:31 @RaymondNijland true but this is canonical and I found this question and it saved me after over an hour of troubleshooting. Goose May 5, 2017 at 20:57 How and Why: This happens when PHP7 doesn't configure the default fast-CGI service in the make script. sudo a2enmod proxy_fcgi setenvif creates three new mods /mods-available/proxy.conf proxy_fcgi.load proxy.load Likewise, sudo a2enconf php7.0-fpm creates a config file /conf-available/php7.0-fpm.conf Once this is done and Apache2 can then run the PHP7 module as a fast-CGI service. Talvi Watia Nov 21, 2017 at 12:49

    I'm running Apache on Ubuntu and my issue was that the /etc/apache2/mods-available/php5.conf file was missing this:

    <FilesMatch ".+\.ph(p[345]?|t|tml)$">
        SetHandler application/x-httpd-php
    </FilesMatch>
    

    I added it back in and php was parsing php files correctly.

    <IfModule php7_module> AddType application/x-httpd-php .php AddType application/x-httpd-php-source .phps <IfModule dir_module> DirectoryIndex index.html index.php </IfModule> </IfModule> Just to help other people with this issue. The httpd.conf file is located in /etc/apache2/httpd.conf If you're using Ubuntu, it would be apache2.conf in the same directory that needs to be modified for PHP7. – Ahmed Sagarwala Aug 14, 2018 at 19:07

    You're just opening your php file into browser. You have to open it using localhost url. if you open a file directly from your directory it will not execute the php code in any case.

    use: http://locahost/index.php or http:127.0.0.1/index.php

    Enable php short code. In your case, you are using <? which is php short code for <?php. By default php short codes are disabled.

    Also use: sudo apt-get install php5 libapache2-mod-php5 php5-mcrypt if you are a ubuntu user.

    Why is mcrypt required when i'm just including a file? You should noticed that this question is old and the short tags issue was mentioned 16 times, also in the top comment of my question. – Gui Dec 6, 2016 at 16:20 I just share my solution, I was also facing the same error and after executing this command of mcrypt my issue solved. you may also try. – Hasan Baig Dec 7, 2016 at 7:43 This was my problem, my virtualmin/apache configuration was for 127.0.0.2 but i was putting my external ip address in the browser, i just updated my v/a config and now its working – Hayden Thring Jan 15, 2019 at 20:14

    I'm posting this answer because my Virtualmin/Webmin admin interface decided it was a good idea to disable my PHP engine.. took me a while to find the solution, so I thought I'd share it with you guys:

    Also, be sure to check that none of your website config files related to this specific host or virtualhost have any php_admin_value's in them that turn off PHP, like this:

    php_admin_value engine Off
    

    When in doubt, comment it...

    # php_admin_value engine Off
    

    And restart your webserver.

    @cronoklee In vHost settings of httpd.conf. For existing hosts, you need to edit apache config in webmin. For future hosts, go to virtualmin > server template > apache website. Eitherway, this is not as secure as fastcgi - virtualmin's default. So the correct approach should be to troubleshoot why fcgi doesn't work, for example it may be caused by file permissions. – Sheepy Sep 9, 2016 at 3:43 If you're using a version of Apache that doesn't have httpd.conf, look in /etc/apache2/mods-enabled/php7.conf or php5.conf – Sam Malayek Oct 20, 2016 at 22:53 When in doubt about the location of a certain configuration setting, you can always use grep to find what you're looking for by (for example in this case) typing: sudo grep php_admin_value /etc/* -R – Henry van Megen May 23, 2018 at 11:05

    This just happened to me again, along with the server downloading html files, rather than processing. I had not use the webserver apache for some time on the computer and meanwhile Ubuntu updated like two more versions from originally installed LTS. Now it is

    $ cat /etc/issue
    Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
    

    So the php worked after like so:

    $ sudo apt-get install lamp-server^
    $ sudo a2enmod php7.0
    $ sudo service apache2 restart 
    

    The webserver was now parsing the php. Maybe now got to update some webs since php7.0 now running where as it was before running php5. Oh well.

    I know it should sound silly... but seldom it happens.

    Check if you are trying to execute php from

    **http://localhost/info.php**
    

    and not from

    file:///var/www/info.php
    

    ps> you can notice that if you write from shell

    php info.php 
    

    it answer with the code (it means php functions)..

    PHP works fine (checked using command line). but, when I access the file using URL, it shows PHP code. – Muaaz Khalid Jun 17, 2015 at 8:08

    sudo apt-get install php -y sudo apt-get install php-{bcmath,bz2,intl,gd,mbstring,mysql,zip,fpm} -y

    To enable PHP 7.2 FPM in Apache2 do:

    a2enmod proxy_fcgi setenvif

    a2enconf php7.2-fpm

    update 2: Apache downloads .php file instead of rendering

    After that, I faced above issue. There are similar questions like this.

    I don't know why but it only happened for my .php files in /var/www/html/ root folder. everything was ok for sub-directories. (for example wordpress and phpmyadmin worked fine)

    So here is my solution. I decided to enable php module. so I ran this command:

    a2enmod php7.2

    but I got this errors:

    Considering dependency mpm_prefork for php7.2: Considering conflict mpm_event for mpm_prefork: ERROR: Module mpm_event is enabled - cannot proceed due to conflicts. It needs to be disabled first! Considering conflict mpm_worker for mpm_prefork: ERROR: Could not enable dependency mpm_prefork for php7.2, aborting

    so I decided to disable mpm by running following commands:

    sudo a2dismod mpm_prefork
    sudo a2dismod mpm_worker
    sudo a2dismod mpm_event
    

    then restart apache:

    systemctl restart apache2

    then enable php7.2 (my installed version):

    sudo a2enmod php7.2

    and right now everything works fine.

    Solutions like this are SO important! Sure, it's basic, but some of us only dip into php occasionally and forget stuff like this. And the Big Dogs (in my case, the people who write the Google Sheets API docs) sometimes omit this in their "quickstart" demos. THANK YOU, @Barmar! – Tim Erickson Mar 30, 2022 at 18:55

    I faced this issue on php 7.1 that comes with High Sierra (OS X 10.13.5), editing /etc/apache2/httpd.conf with following changes helped:

  • Uncomment this line

    LoadModule php7_module libexec/apache2/libphp7.so
    
  • Paste following at the end

    <IfModule php7_module>
        AddType application/x-httpd-php .php
        AddType application/x-httpd-php-source .phps
        <IfModule dir_module>
            DirectoryIndex index.html index.php
        </IfModule>
    </IfModule>
                    Like same can you pls suggest Wamp 3 version same error. There is no /etc/apache2/httpd.conf  folder path in wamp 3. @AamirR
    – Gem
                    Jan 9, 2019 at 7:00
                    This worked for me!!! Mine was a more strange issue. Some files rendered the PHP and others did not and just displayed the code.
    – sjw0525
                    Oct 14, 2019 at 17:40
    

    on my ubuntu 14.04, apache 2.4, php 5.5.9 install, I tried with a sample.php on /var/www/html (default document root) and it worked ok. So the problem was on my Virtual Servers config. The solution was to include, on the Directory def containing the .php, this line:

        php_admin_flag engine on
                    and where should I add this line in Apache file in httpd.conf of my virtual server? and I am using Webmin
    – suresh pareek
                    Aug 21, 2017 at 12:45
    

    Another possible cause of this problem could be that you are trying to run the script in a "user directory" from the UserDir module. Running PHP scripts in user directories is disabled by default. You will run into this problem if the script is in the public_html directory in your home folder and you are trying to access it from http://localhost/~your_username.

    To fix this, open up /etc/apache2/mods-enabled/php7.2.conf. You must comment or delete the tag block at the bottom that reads

    <IfModule mod_userdir.c>
        <Directory /home/*/public_html>
            php_admin_flag engine Off
        </Directory>
    </IfModule>
    

    i had similar problem but in my case solution was different. my file that held php code was called "somename.html" changed it to "somename.php" worked fine

    This also solved it for me. Does anyone know if the sever will execute php in a .html file or does the file ending always have to be changed to .php when there's a line of php to be executed? – full_prog_full Nov 10, 2016 at 14:42 depends upon the server settings, for most cases php code that existing in anyfile.html will execute. and if it does not, it can be changed, although idk how :P – Netrus Dec 4, 2016 at 16:49

    For fresh setup of LAMP running php 7 edit the file /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf Note: make sure to make backup for it before changing anything.

    Paste this at the very bottom of the file:

    <IfModule php7_module>
    AddType application/x-httpd-php .php
    AddType application/x-httpd-php-source .phps
    <IfModule dir_module>
        DirectoryIndex index.html index.php
    </IfModule>
    

    Then, search for LoadModule and paste the following line:

    LoadModule php7_module modules/libphp7.so
    

    This line will simply ask httpd to load the php 7 module

    Then restart httpd

    In my case the php module was not loaded. Try this:

  • Check which modules are loaded: apache2ctl -M. Look for module like php7_module (shared)
  • If no php module is listed, then try to load the module that corresponds to your php version. In my case the php packet is libapache2-mod-php7.3. So I did: a2enmod php7.3 and the problem was solved.
  • Easiest way to install Apache + php7 tested using Debian 10:

    apt-get update -y
    apt-get install apache2 php7.0 libapache2-mod-php  -y
    sudo service apache2 restart
    

    index.html contained PHP code. By default, PHP won't process files with extentions like htm* as PHP code.

    You can override this, by adding the following to .htaccess:

    <FilesMatch ".+\.html$">
        SetHandler application/x-httpd-php
    </FilesMatch>
    

    Uncomment next lines in your httpd.conf

    LoadModule proxy_module lib/httpd/modules/mod_proxy.so
    LoadModule proxy_fcgi_module lib/httpd/modules/mod_proxy_fcgi.so
    

    It works for me

    Try restarting the apache server. This was the mistake I had made - forgetting to restart the server after installing php!

    service httpd restart
    

    For php7.3.* you could try to install these modules. It worked for me.

    sudo apt-get install libapache2-mod-php7.3
    sudo service apache2 restart
    

    I think the problem that it is showing code instead of the result is that it is not going to local host . recheck what address u r going in. are u going to a local file directory or to the local host.

    from the screenshot u sent it is going to ur computer not to the localhost.

    "file:/// " it should be "localhost/"

    It honestly did, maybe because I hadn't configured the PHP properly on my system.But, since the question I asked regarding the same issue has been marked as a duplicate to this question, I only could answer it here. I wonder why the down vote. – b.g Oct 17, 2016 at 13:06

    I had a case that I accidentally started untaring my files directory in root. It added the .htaccess file from my files folder that would block all php

    # If we know how to do it safely, disable the PHP engine entirely.
    <IfModule mod_php5.c>
      php_flag engine off
    </IfModule>
    

    Bottom line check the .htaccess file on root.

    Just spent hours of trying to get PHP 5 to run with Apache 2.4 on Windows 10. Finally for me it was a typo in httpd.conf LoadModule. Drew attention to writing and exact module path through the last answer in this apachelounge thread of denny2018. Thank you!

    After two nights I discovered... My directory was written c: (lower case)

    I had LoadModule php5_module "c:/php/php5apache2.dll" but correct for apache 2.4 is:

    LoadModule php5_module "C:/php/php5apache2_4.dll"
    

    So I also missed the _4 before (for apache 2.4). The full snippet that worked for me:

    # PHP
    LoadModule php5_module "C:/php/php5apache2_4.dll"
    AddHandler application/x-httpd-php .php
    <FilesMatch \.php$>
        SetHandler application/x-httpd-php
    </FilesMatch>
    

    Just tried PHP 7. There the LoadModule line in httpd.conf for Apache 2.4 reads

    LoadModule php7_module "C:/php/php7apache2_4.dll"
    

    Currently php manual shows up c:/php/php5apache2.dll which of course needs to be adjusted.

  •