How do I add PHP code/file to HTML(.html) files?

Question

I can't use PHP in my HTML pages. For example, index.html. I've tried using both:

<? contents ?> 

and

<?php contents ?> 

Neither of these work. My server offers PHP, and when I use a the .php extension, it works properly. Is this a problem or do I have to change the preferences in php.ini?

Solution 1

You can't run PHP in .html files because the server does not recognize that as a valid PHP extension unless you tell it to. To do this you need to create a .htaccess file in your root web directory and add this line to it:

AddType application/x-httpd-php .htm .html

This will tell Apache to process files with a .htm or .html file extension as PHP files.

Solution 2

I think writing PHP into an .html file is confusing and anti-natural. Why would you do that??

Anyway, if what you want is to execute PHP files and show them as .html in the address bar, an easiest solution would be using .php as normal, and write a rule in your .htaccess like this:

RewriteRule ^([^.]+)\.html$ $1.php [L]

Solution 3

In order to use php in .html files, you must associate them with your PHP processor in your HTTP server's config file. In Apache, that looks like this:

AddHandler application/x-httpd-php .html

Solution 4

You can modify .htaccess like others said, but the fastest solution is to rename the file extension to .php

Solution 5

Add this line

AddHandler application/x-httpd-php .html

to httpd.conf file for what you want to do. But remember, if you do this then your web server will be very slow, because it will be parsing even static code which will not contain php code. So the better way will be to make the file extension .phtml instead of just .html.

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Comments

[Explosion Pills]

You would have to change your server (I assume apache) to serve html files as php, but why do you want the extension to be html instead of php?

[undone]

php.about.com/od/advancedphp/p/html_php.htm

[undone]

@ExplosionPills I've done it using IIS v7! and it's possible!

[Explosion Pills]

@Death I didn't mean to imply that it can only be done with apache, I just assumed he was using apache.

[Hoon]

In fact, I changed my server recently and, my previous server, they provided php on html but the current server didn't and I was curious.

[Hoon]

@ExplosionPills, I really appreciate your attention for my curiosity . But my point was just to solve my issue and I don't care the way. I assumed I've to change my configuration and I couldn't think adding on '.htaccess' at all. Really Thanks for helping me :)

[Edward]

I imagine @Hoon might want to have the file be named .html for a variety of reasons including SEO purposes than have a .php extension.

[Dani]

@ExplosionPills I cannot change my homepage's extension from .html, unlike every other page I create.

[Alien Technology]

What a horrible idea. Use redirects to save your SEO. Use .html for HTML and .php for PHP.

[Explosion Pills]

While this is right I think a more important question is why do this? Moreover, he should update server config rather than use .htaccess if that's an option.

[nickb]

I've done this on numerous occasions to hide the fact that I'm using PHP (in addition to other things)

[Hoon]

What if i use PHP + HTML? which format should i use? I'm quite confused. My page has really short code based on PHP and there are many codes in HTML. So what i was going to do is to make a HTML file. Is this a bad habit?

[David Morales]

The format should be .php, as .html files are intended to contain only HTML code.

[Nathan Long]

@nickb - security through obscurity?

[Eric Finn]

@NathanLong w3.org/TR/cooluris Specifically, "Keep implementation-specific bits and pieces such as .php and .asp out of your URIs, you may want to change technologies later." in section 4.5.

[Nathan Long]

@EricFinn - that's a good guideline. But having the server process .html files as PHP isn't necessary even, or helpful, in following it. You want users to visit example.com/foo. You could use that URL to serve PHP content regardless of the file names on your server. If users already have foo.html bookmarked, you could still serve foo.php without renaming the file.

[Eric Finn]

@NathanLong That's fair, I suppose. But my point was that there are other reasons than 'security' for hiding the fact that PHP is being used.

[David Morales]

Remember to not write your entire answer in bold, please.

[Kaspar L. Palgi]

now when I open that .html file then it pops up and wants me to download it.

[Randy]

WARNING- I confirm what many have pointed out, apparently long ago (and now in 2019 as of this comment). This change will cause Firefox browsers to offer the visitor a chance to download the page. Even if its fixed in SOME versions of Firefox, I don't think anyone should take a chance!

[Floggedhorse]

You could also try .phtml

[carloswm85]

Can we tell that doing this is bad practice?

[PatrickT]

would you care to comment on the difference between AddHandler and AddType? Thanks.

[Chris Trahey]

@PatrickT Simplest way to compare is that AddHandler is an "input" mapping - it maps an incoming file extension to a handler. AddType modifies the output MIME type header. See the note here: httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/mod/mod_mime.html#addtype

[quantme]

Thank you for considering those who don't even know how to create a .htaccess file.

[quantme]

Very practical.

[fasterthanlight]

So can I put HTML in .php files?

[The concise]

@fasterthanlight Sure. Yes

[Shaun Bebbers]

Serious question: would this mean that you could somehow inject PHP into the live server by POSTing some PHP script to it or something?

[George Chalhoub]

Awesome answer!