Installing and Configuring PHP on Your Local Development Environment with XAMPP for Windows

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Introduction

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In this tutorial, we will walk you through setting up your local development environment for PHP using the popular AMP (Apache, MySQL, Perl/PHP) stack called XAMPP. This step-by-step guide assumes that you are using a 64-bit version of Microsoft's operating system: Windows.

Prerequisites

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1. Ensure your computer meets the minimum hardware requirements:

- Processor: Intel Core i3 or AMD equivalent

- RAM: At least 4GB (8GB recommended)

2. Install Java SE Development Kit (JDK) from Oracle's official website, as it is a dependency for XAMPP.

Step-by-Step Installation Guide

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### Step 1: Download and Extract the XAMPP Installer

1. Go to the 'XAMPHP'(https://www.xampp.org/download#installs) download page.

2. Click on the 'xampp-win64' or 'xampp-windows-x64' link depending on your operating system architecture (32-bit or 64-bit).

3. Save the downloaded file (`xampp-etc.exe`) to a convenient location such as `Downloads`.

4. Double-click on `xampp-wamp-mampp_etc_xampp_x86_windows_x86-7.2.0-1-x86.msi` and follow the installation wizard prompts.

### Step 2: Set Environment Variables

After XAMPP has been successfully installed, you need to set up some environment variables:

1. Right-click on `Start > Control Panel`.

2. Click on 'System' (in Windows 8/10) or 'Properties' (in earlier versions).

3. Under the top section titled 'Advanced settings', click on 'Environment Variables'.

4. In the new window, under the bottom section labeled 'User variables for your username' if you want to set it only for current user otherwise select 'System variable'.

5. Click New and create a new environment variable called `PHP_HOME` with the path to where XAMPP installed PHP (e.g., `C:\xampp\php`).

6. Similarly, add two more variables:

- `PATH`: append semicolon (;) followed by the value of `%PHP_HOME%`

e.g., `%SystemRoot%\system32;%;%PHPHOME%;%%LOCALAPPDATA/local/Composer/bin;%WINDIR/Windows/system32;`)

7. Click 'OK' to apply changes and then restart your system.

### Step 3: Launch XAMPP

1. Double-click on the `XAMPP Control Panel` shortcut in Start > All Programs or search for it using the Windows Search bar.

2. In the newly opened window, click on 'Start' next to Apache and MySQL services until they both turn green indicating that they are running successfully.

### Step 4: Verify PHP Installation

1. Open your web browser (e.g., Google Chrome) and navigate to `http://localhost/xampp/htdocs`.

2. If everything has been set up correctly, you should see the XAMPP dashboard page with links to various tutorials and tools.

3. To verify that PHP is working properly, create a new file called 'info.php' in your `C:\xampp\htdocs` directory (or where ever Apache's document root is configured to point to).

4. Open this newly created file using any text editor like Notepad++ or Sublime Text and paste the following code:

```php

' . phpinfo() . '

'; ?>

```

5. Save changes by pressing Ctrl + S (Windows) or Command + Option + S (Mac).

6. Refresh your browser window to see if PHP is working correctly.

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Congratulations! You have successfully installed and configured XAMPP for local development on Windows using this tutorial. Now you can start creating dynamic web applications with ease using popular frameworks like CakePHP, CodeIgniter, or even just plain old fashioned vanilla PHP.

Troubleshooting Tips:

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1. If you encounter any issues during the installation process, ensure that all necessary dependencies (Java SE JDK and Apache's Visual C++ Redistributable) are installed.

2. Make sure that your system variables (`PATH`, `PHP_HOME`) have been correctly set up by restarting your computer after making changes.

References:

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1. 'Official XAMPP Website'(https://www.xampp.org/)

Phpstorm install