PHP code is not being executed, but the code shows in the browser source code

Question

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");
?>

Cataphoresis

Are you using short tags <? instead of <?php? – Biracial

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. – Lament

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. – Azeria

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. – Azeria

Also taking a look at tail -f -n 50 /var/log/apache2/error.log helped me find the issue. – Henninger

Answer 1

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

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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).

6. 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.

Nordau

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!! – Ellisellison

I need to enter the AddType mentioned but the file is read only. How can I overcome this and write a new line into it? – Borek

@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. – Looby

point no 6 worked for me.. local access doesn't use the apache server – Valeric

point 2 worked for me the safe way - apt-get purge apache2; apt-get install apache2 libapache-mod-php5 – Oddball

@Looby you're correct. Short tags were not deprecated, I fixed the answer. – Bakemeier

short tags weren't working here, (server 2008), need to research why, but at least I know – Alisander

I checked httpd.conf and the line LoadModule php5_module "c:/php/php5apache2_2.dll" is missing. Isn't that weird or not? Anyway, should I added myself ? I also saw in other sites that you should uncomment line LoadModule php5_module modules/libphp5.so, is this something different? Windows user here. – Encircle

Point #5 did the trick. Already had a complete website using short tags. – Spat

@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. – Nordau

There is no file called httpd.conf on my whole system. I searched with find / -name "httpd.conf" – Amber

@Oddball in ubuntu 16.04, for apache2 and php7, I installed sudo apt-get install libapache2-mod-php7.0 and it automatically configured my mods-enabled folder for php use. – Ostracon

Given the command line and web server installs of PHP are often independent, I don't think point 1 is very useful. Also, given the reactions of people who ask this FAQ, point 6 should probably be upgraded to point 1. – Skeet

What should I do if there is no Apache's httpd.conf @Nordau – Microlith

I would clarify point #5, and mention that users should ensure their code starts with <?php. – Hardpan

Why is AddType set to "application/x-httpd-php" and not to "text/html"? The docs say AddType is to set the mime type for browser; so "text/html" would be right. – Cornucopia

You could add .html text after AddType application/x-httpd-php .php. It would be AddType application/x-httpd-php .php .html. So we can run <?php tag into .html files. – Toffic

point 3 was the missing component I needed. I recently upgraded to Mac OS Catalina, and I noticed that the AddType application/x-httpd-php .php line was not included in the httpd.conf file. – Danella

After upgrading from PHP 7.0 to 7.4 my PHP files were shown as text. Running sudo apt purge libapache2-mod-php7.4 and re-installing the package fixed it for me. – Nootka

In my case, I was passing to the cloud (Azure VM) an old code in PHP. While some of it was rendering correctly, some of it was not (I didn't get to see this until I read your post). The Bitnami LAMP installation runner does not include by default in the php.ini short_open_tag=On. I included it and that's all. Thank you very much. – Furthest

Saved my day! Thanks! My problem was the missing MIME type – Bogus

Answer 2

php7 :

sudo a2enmod proxy_fcgi setenvif
sudo a2enconf php7.0-fpm
sudo service apache2 restart

Shrink

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. – Pallor

This answer is linux related the topicstarter is clearly using windows. – Triglyph

@RaymondNijland true but this is canonical and I found this question and it saved me after over an hour of troubleshooting. – Literate

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. – Arequipa

Please add an explaination – Karolekarolina

should be the best answer! – Dialect

Nobody cares about the explanation. Thanks pal. – Mosquito

the first line did it for me since I already did the equivalent of the 2nd line earlier in my attempts. The fact that this page is still useful after 11 years is a testament to to the most useful technical (or any other) website on the internet. – Effuse

Answer 3

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.

Pareira

It did change things. Now I see 403 Forbidden when accessing any .php file. BTW it should be /etc/apache2/mods-enabled/ – Eolithic

Answer 4

note for php 7 users, add this to your httpd.conf file:

# PHP 7 specific configuration
<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>

Cedrickceevah

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. – Herra

Answer 5

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.

Nucleoplasm

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. – Cataphoresis

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. – Nucleoplasm

by default php short codes are enabled. short_open_tag=On (Default Value=ON) in php 5.6 – Flatworm

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 – Cereal

I was just missing the libapache2-mod-php7.3 . – Bracken

My code started working on Xampp on Ubuntu after I changed short_open_tag=On in php.ini. Excellent.... – Disaffection

Answer 6

I found another problem causing this issue and already solved it. I accidentally saved my script in UTF-16 encoding. It seems that PHP5 can't recognize <?php tag in 16 bit encoding by default.

Kirkwood

Answer 7

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.

Osteoarthritis

Where are these config settings exactly? – Paff

@Paff 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. – Scorpaenoid

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 – Frierson

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 – Osteoarthritis

Answer 8

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.

Pluralism

Answer 9

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)..

Diffractive

PHP works fine (checked using command line). but, when I access the file using URL, it shows PHP code. – Ultimogeniture

Answer 10

I've solved this by uninstalling XAMPP, and installing WAMP. Thanks for the help.

Cataphoresis

I am xampp but it works fine. did you find why it was showing php code @Cataphoresis – Adolphadolphe

Answer 11

In case we are in the same page do following

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.

Grangerize

Answer 12

Make sure the script contains

<?php

before the code that should be executed. There should be no space between <? and php in this.

Madalena

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! – Coagulate

Answer 13

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:

1. Uncomment this line

   LoadModule php7_module libexec/apache2/libphp7.so
   

2. 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>
   

Larock

Like same can you pls suggest Wamp 3 version same error. There is no /etc/apache2/httpd.conf folder path in wamp 3. @Larock – Highchair

This worked for me!!! Mine was a more strange issue. Some files rendered the PHP and others did not and just displayed the code. – Vickyvico

Answer 14

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

Lucindalucine

and where should I add this line in Apache file in httpd.conf of my virtual server? and I am using Webmin – Refrangible

Answer 15

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>

Deadlock

Answer 16

Check all the packages you have installed for php using:

yum list installed | grep remi

Install all relevant php packages, especially php-devel on your machine.

Oppress

Answer 17

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

Harlan

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? – Lelalelah

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 – Harlan

Answer 18

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

Doehne

Answer 19

Add AddType application/x-httpd-php .php to your httpd.conf file if you are using Apache 2.4

Discoverer

Answer 20

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

1. Check which modules are loaded: apache2ctl -M. Look for module like php7_module (shared)
2. 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.

Elidaelidad

Answer 21

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

Litre

Answer 22

This was in my .htaccess

DirectoryIndex index.html index.htm

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>

Beals

Answer 23

If you have configuration like this:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName example.com
    DocumentRoot "/var/www/example.com"

    <FilesMatch "\.php$">
        SetHandler "proxy:fcgi://127.0.0.1:9000"
    </FilesMatch>
</VirtualHost>

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

Zincate

Answer 24

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

service httpd restart

Angkor

Answer 25

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

Benetta

Answer 26

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/"

Scriabin

Answer 27

Reinstalling the mcrypt module worked for me.

$sudo apt-get install php5-mcrypt
$sudo php5enmod mcrypt

Chirlin

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. – Chirlin

This answer is linux related the topicstarter is clearly using windows – Triglyph

Answer 28

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.

Blub

Answer 29

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.

Tabitha

Answer 30

in my case (Apache/2.4.34),

after uncommenting the specific module

"LoadModule php7_module libexec/apache2/libphp7.so"

from

"/etc/apache2/httpd.conf"

my problem was gone.

Solder

Answer 31

After trying everything above and nothing works, consider restarting your pc. Solved mine.

Rhythmandblues

Answer 32

It is possible to install phpmyadmin on raspberry 64 bit and it even was not difficult in my case.
I am running several hp-laptops with openSuse Tumbleweed and some Raspberries.
On the latest Raspberry 3 B + I 64bit raspbian buster light, kde plasma Desktop.
Linux raspi10 5.10.60-v8+ #1449 SMP PREEMPT Wed Aug 25 15:01:33 BST 2021 aarch64 GNU/Linux
I am using nginx 1.14.2 with fastcgi (not using 'sock') and php 8.0.10 (php-fpm).
I downloaded 'composer' first. (Use apt or aptitude for that). After that go to https://docs.phpmyadmin.net/en/latest/setup.html
Look for the shell command

composer create-project phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin

It will install a complete directory 'phpmyadmin' in the current directory.
Move that to /var/lib/ and set the user:group permissions according to your settings in nginx.conf
In my case:
chown -R www-data:www-data /var/lib/phpmyadmin

Create a symlink to /srv/www/public or /var/www/html or wherever your server is looking for stuff.
You can add a second symlink named phpMyAdmin to phpmyadmin
Make sure that the root instruction in nginx.conf is set accordingly.

My nginx configuration is (nearly) identical on all my machines. It is very compact right now.
To get started this is the easiest way. All further servers and features can be added later.
No entry in /etc/nginx/sites-enabled and nothing in /etc/nginx/vhosts.d
Start with just one pool in php.ini. To configure that, google a litlle and test by checking the status of php-fpm.

Ferneferneau

Answer 33

This right here solved my problem (php 8.1, ubuntu 22.04.2):

sudo apt-get install apache2 php8.1 php8.1-cli libapache2-mod-php8.1 -y
sudo systemctl restart apache2
sudo systemctl enable apache2

To verify that everything works correctly please navigate to your webroot (most likely /var/www/html), delete the index.html and create a new index.php. Once these steps are done write the following into the new index.php:

<?php

phpinfo();

?>

Now go to your browser, enter your server's ip/domain and if you see some page that displays various information about your php installation you are ready to go!

Ranchod

Answer 34

PHP 8, Centos 7, Apache 2, Remi Repo

I've recently upgraded a centos server to use php 8.

After the upgrade php had stopped working and apache started serving me the php code as text.

Having spent a good while looking for which config setting had not updated I tracked it down to this:

in /etc/httpd/conf.d

<IfModule  mod_php7.c>

needed changing to:

<IfModule  mod_php.c>

There are other places that you may see the mod_php7 check that could probably be updated to the mod_php variant but this one definitely fixed it for me.

Don't forget to restart the server afterwards.

Pawsner

Answer 35

After trying everything I came up to this solution

---

This error appears when the PHP 7.0 FPM is not enabled by default.

To enable PHP 7.0 FPM in Apache2, run:

 sudo 2enmod proxy_fcgi setenvif
 sudo a2enconf php7.0-fpm
 systemctl restart apache2

If you have php7.4, enter 7.4 instead of 7.0 in the above commands.

Selfstyled

Answer 36

Today, PHP comes with a built in web server, so no further installation should be needed, therefore one of the easiest way to render a PHP file for development usage would be:

1. Open a terminal and change to the source directory which contains your web app (its main file is usually called index.php).
2. Inside this directory, type php -S localhost:7777 (the port number is chosen arbitrary).
3. Open a web browser an type in localhost:7777 in the address bar and the desired web page should be rendered.

If you have finished your visit, return to your terminal and press CTRL-C to shut down the development server.

This information is also given by invoking php --help in the terminal, further stuff is given at https://www.php.net/manual/en/features.commandline.webserver.php

Seumas

Answer 37

sudo apt-get install apache2 php7.x libapache2-mod-php7.x
a2query -m php7.x
sudo a2enmod php7.x
sudo service apache2 restart

x- your php7 subversion

Technicality

php7 is discontinued – Unheardof

Your answer could be improved with additional supporting information. Please edit to add further details, such as citations or documentation, so that others can confirm that your answer is correct. You can find more information on how to write good answers in the help center. – German