PHP is nothing but PHP Hypertext Preprocessor. Which is a programming language that enables web developers to create dynamic content that interact with database. PHP is generally used for developing the web based software applications.
* PHP is basically server side scripting language that is installed in HTML. It is used to handle databases, dynamic content, even build entire e-commerce sites and session tracking.
* It is combined with a number of famous databases, including Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Informix, Sybase and Microsoft SQL Server.
* PHP is appropriately zippy in its execution, when compiled as an Apache module on Unix side. The MySQL server was started executes even very difficult queries with wide result sets in record-setting time.
* PHP supports large number of major protocols such as IMAP, POP3, and LDAP. PHP4 was added for support Java and distributed object architectures , making n-tier development possibility for the first time.
* PHP Syntax is C-Like.

PHP Characteristics

Five important characteristics of PHP
* Security
* Efficiency
* Familiarity
* Flexibility
* Simplicity

PHP Uses

* PHP implements system functions, i.e. from files on a system it can open, create, write, read and close them.
* PHP can manage forms, i.e. collect data from files, save that data to a file and then through email you can return data, send data to the user.
* You can add, modify, delete elements within your database through PHP.
* Access cookies variables and also set cookies.
* Using PHP, you can restrict users to access some of the pages in your website.
* It can encrypt the data.