PHP: what it is, what it is for, and how to get started in the language

PHP is an open-source programming language executed on the server, created to build dynamic web pages. It processes forms, manages sessions, and talks to databases — and remains the most present server-side language on the web in 2026, from WordPress blogs to corporate systems.

• What is PHP?
• Why does PHP still dominate the web in 2026?
• What are the main characteristics of PHP?
• Basic PHP syntax in practice
• PHP embedded in HTML
• Forms in PHP: practical example
• When to use PHP in a project?

What is PHP?

PHP, a recursive acronym for "PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor", is an open-source scripting language geared toward web development, executed on the server and designed to be embedded inside HTML (HyperText Markup Language). PHP code generates the page before it reaches the browser: the visitor receives only the final HTML, never the original script.

The language was born in 1994, when Rasmus Lerdorf created "Personal Home Page Tools", a set of scripts for his own site. Rewritten and opened to the community, the project evolved into modern PHP, maintained by The PHP Group and distributed for free. Since PHP 8.0, released in 2020, the language has JIT (Just-In-Time) compilation, union types, and named arguments — features that brought PHP closer to modern typed languages.

Unlike traditional JavaScript, which runs in the user's browser, PHP runs exclusively on the server. This characteristic makes it suitable for tasks that require confidentiality and access to protected resources: authentication, database queries, and payment processing.

Why does PHP still dominate the web in 2026?

PHP dominates the web because it runs on 71.8% of all sites whose server-side language is known, according to W3Techs (2026) — far ahead of the second place, Ruby, with 6.7%. The main driver of this presence is WordPress, written in PHP, which alone accounts for about 41.9% of all websites, according to W3Techs.

Among professionals, PHP was used by 18.9% of developers in the past year, according to the Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2025. The ecosystem has also modernized: 57.5% of PHP sites already run version 8 (W3Techs, 2026), which dispels the idea of an installed base frozen in the past. To see how PHP positions itself against Python, Java, and others, check out the comparison of the most used programming languages in the world.

What are the main characteristics of PHP?

The main characteristics of PHP are simple syntax, the open-source model, a mature community, and versatility for projects of any size. In detail:

1. Simplicity: PHP's syntax is direct and coexists naturally with HTML, which lowers the barrier to entry for beginners.
2. Open source and free: PHP is distributed under an open-source license, at no cost of use, and runs on virtually any hosting provider.
3. Community and documentation: more than 30 years of history have produced extensive official documentation in Portuguese and millions of ready answers to common problems.
4. Versatility: PHP serves from small scripts to large content management systems and corporate APIs built with frameworks like Laravel and Symfony.
5. Database integration: the PDO extension connects PHP to MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, and other databases with a single interface.

Basic PHP syntax in practice

All PHP code lives between the <?php and ?> tags, which mark where the interpreter should act. The classic example prints a message to the screen with the echo instruction:

<?php
echo "Olá, Mundo!";
?>

In this snippet, <?php opens the code block, echo sends the text to the page output, and ?> returns control to HTML. Variables in PHP always start with $ (like $nome), and each instruction ends with a semicolon — two rules that resolve most errors of those starting out.

PHP embedded in HTML

PHP was designed to be mixed with HTML in the same file, dispensing with extra layers to generate dynamic content. A .php page is a regular HTML document with code blocks inserted where the content needs to be computed:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <title>Página PHP</title>
</head>
<body>

<h1>Exemplo PHP</h1>

<?php
echo "Olá, Mundo!";
?>

</body>
</html>

The server executes the <?php ... ?> block and delivers only the resulting HTML to the browser. For this final page to be well-structured and friendly to search engines, it is also worth mastering semantic HTML and its relationship with SEO.

Forms in PHP: practical example

Form processing is PHP's most traditional use case. The HTML form sends the data via the POST method to a PHP script indicated in the action attribute:

<form method="post" action="processar_formulario.php">
    Nome: <input type="text" name="nome">
    <input type="submit" value="Enviar">
</form>

In the processar_formulario.php file, the $_POST superglobal variable gives access to the submitted data:

<?php
$nome = htmlspecialchars($_POST['nome']);
echo "Olá, $nome!";
?>

Note the htmlspecialchars function: it converts special characters into HTML entities and prevents a visitor from injecting malicious code into the page (an attack known as XSS, Cross-Site Scripting). Never display data coming from the user without this treatment — it is the first rule of security in PHP.

When to use PHP in a project?

Use PHP when the project involves content sites, online stores, admin panels, or any web system that depends on a CMS or the LAMP stack (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP). In these scenarios, the combination with MySQL, the web's most used relational database, offers cheap hosting, abundant labor, and a gigantic plugin ecosystem.

PHP is also strong in conventional REST APIs and corporate applications: Laravel brings authentication, queues, and ORM ready, while Symfony serves as the foundation for long-running projects. On the other hand, real-time workloads (chats, event streaming) and scientific computing are usually better served by Node.js, Go, or Python — the right choice depends on the problem, not the fashion.

Conclusion

PHP remains the most pragmatic entry point for web backend: no other language offers so much job supply in maintaining and evolving real systems with such a short learning curve. Here at CodeCrush, the recommendation is direct — learn the base shown in this guide, practice with forms and databases, and only then adopt a framework like Laravel. Those who master modern PHP, with types and good security practices, work in the technology that powers seven out of ten websites.