Preface PHP, which stands for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor, is a widely-used open source general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for web development and can be embedded into HTML. Its syntax draws upon C, Java, and Perl, and is easy to learn. The main goal of the language is to allow web developers to write dynamically generated web pages quickly, but you can do much more with PHP. This manual consists primarily of a function reference, but also contains a language reference, explanations of some of PHP's major features, and other supplemental information. This manual includes information covering the two most recent major releases of PHP (versions 7 and 8). Information about extensions that are no longer included with those versions of PHP and changes to functions in earlier versions is not included. Archives of older versions of the manual that document previous releases of PHP are available from the "More documentation" section on the "Documentation" page of the PHP website. You can download this manual in several formats at &url.php.doc.downloads;. More information about how this manual is developed can be found in the 'About the manual' appendix. If you are interested in the history of PHP, visit the relevant appendix. &contributors;