PHP 5 is installed in macOS / OS X by default, but the built-in Apache web server may not be configured to automatically run PHP. To enable PHP, the apache configuration file needs to be modified. This file is located in the following location:
/etc/apache2/httpd.conf
In order to edit this file, the permissions on the file must be changed. This can be accomplished by doing the following:
1. Open a terminal windows (Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal)
2. Change to the correct directory (cd /etc/apache2)
3. Change the permissions on the file (sudo chmod 755 httpd.conf)
/etc/apache2/httpd.conf
In order to edit this file, the permissions on the file must be changed. This can be accomplished by doing the following:
1. Open a terminal windows (Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal)
2. Change to the correct directory (cd /etc/apache2)
3. Change the permissions on the file (sudo chmod 755 httpd.conf)
Once the file permissions are changed, you can use a tool like EditRocket to open the httpd.conf file and modify it. After opening the httpd.conf file, we need to look for the following line:
#LoadModule php5_module libexec/apache2/libphp5.so
This line needs to be uncommented by removing the # in front of the line. Remove the # and then save the file.
#LoadModule php5_module libexec/apache2/libphp5.so
This line needs to be uncommented by removing the # in front of the line. Remove the # and then save the file.
PHP is now enabled, but we need to restart the apache web server for the changes to take effect. To restart the web server, do the following:
$ sudo apachectl restart
$ sudo apachectl restart
This will restart the apache server. To test PHP, create a PHP file called test.php in the following directory.
/Library/WebServer/Documents/
Enter the following URL to visit the page:
http://localhost/test.php
Enter the following URL to visit the page:
http://localhost/test.php
