PHP server on local machine?

Question

I'm trying to build a PHP site and I'm wanting to test my PHP files without uploading them to my host. Basically testing them on my own machine before I upload them. How do I do that?

Answer 1

PHP 5.4 and later have a built-in web server these days.

You simply run the command from the terminal:

cd path/to/your/app
php -S 127.0.0.1:8000

Then in your browser go to http://127.0.0.1:8000 and boom, your system should be up and running. (There must be an index.php or index.html file for this to work.)

You could also add a simple Router

<?php
// router.php
if (preg_match('/\.(?:png|jpg|jpeg|gif)$/', $_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"])) {
    return false;    // serve the requested resource as-is.
} else { 
    require_once('resolver.php');
}
?>

And then run the command

php -S 127.0.0.1:8000 router.php

References:

• https://www.php.net/manual/en/features.commandline.webserver.php
• https://www.php.net/manual/en/features.commandline.options.php