What is an index php site?

Are you a PHP programmer and wanted to know – what should Index PHP contain ?

Let’s uncover the subject in more details.

For those who don’t know about Index, the following lines contain additional information.

Note: If you wanted to skip to the answer part, you can do so HERE or click on below Links for respective sections.

Table of Content

• What is PHP ?
• What do you mean by Index PHP ?
• What should Index PHP contain ?

Let’s dive deep into the subject matter.

What is PHP ?

PHP, also known as Hypertext Preprocessor is a general-purpose scripting language.

PHP is commonly used to create web applications. For example, the WordPress is built with PHP, one of the most popular Content Management Systems.

By scripting language, we mean – the web application coded with PHP runs automated Tasks on the Web Server.

In this case, implementation of PHP in web applications, websites, and Blogs is undeniable for a variety of reasons, including processing, flexibility, and data management.

What is meant by Index PHP ?

Index PHP refers to a PHP file, named Index.php in this case.

Index.php is commonly placed in a cPanel Website’s Root folder. This file is responsible to show the Home page of a website.

As its name suggests, it is commonly coded in PHP language.

When the Home page of a web application is called, the web server tries to find and process Index.php in the first attempt.

The later scene is based on Index PHP file. In this case, if the Index.php file is correctly setup, the visitors’ see the Home page of the website.

Developers can also handle users’ requests with Index.php file, such as renaming or changing code in Index.php directly affects users’ expectations.

What should Index PHP contain ?

So let’s discuss, what should we put inside Index.php file.

It depends on several factors. For example, if you are coding a custom web application, you will most likely code Index.php manually, depending on how you want your Home page display.

Similarly, on the other hand – if you have built your website with a Content Management System like WordPress, you can certainly ignore Index.php file.

Because, CMS automatically creates and setup Index.php file during the setup process.

However, if you do want to know the default content of a sample Index.php file, you can examine the source code HERE.

Please note, there are no strict rules regarding Index PHP file content. It depends on personal preferences, custom applications, and CMS used for a website.

Normally, an Index.php file includes code to process a site’s Header, Footer, and a basic view of Body content. For example, if there are posts in the site, the Home page will be populated with Blog Posts.

If nothing is found, a message will be shown That no posts we found.

In other words, it is not necessary to name the Home page as Index.php file. Normally, Index.HTML is being used to address a site’s Home page.

However, if you are using PHP, you would most likely use Index.PHP as a file responsible for your site’s Home page.

In case of users’ requests for specific pages, PHP is responsible to process users’ requests depending on page types, such as Home page, Category page, or a 404 page.

In case of a Home page, the content of Index.php is processed to show the site’s Home page to the user.

Also, keep in mind That different CMS(s) handle index.php in a different way.

For example, when a user requests the Home page of a WordPress website, the web server looks for index.html file.

If not found, the custom application would most likely execute index.php after failing to find other variations of a Home page Template like Index.HTML.

Final Thoughts

An Index.PHP file contains source code based on the type of web application.

Sometimes, it contains fewer lines of source code, such as ones used for redirecting a visitor to a newer site.

However, a normal Index.php file contains code to process and prepare a site’s Home page, containing Header, Body, and Footer.

In this case, if the Index.php file is processed successfully, the Home page of the site will be shown to the visitor.

For more information on how Index.php works in WordPress, please join the conversation in the comments and let us know your thoughts.

The index page is the URL or local file that automatically loads when a web browser starts and when the browser's 'home' button is pressed. The term is also used to refer to the front page, web server directory index, or main web page of a website of a group, company, organization, or individual.

Make sure you have the index page in your public_html directory, otherwise, your site will not be shown in the browser correctly. When creating your index page, you should use one of the following names (the first one found will be shown if the visitor doesn't specify a page in the URL):

index.html
index.php

You may also specify which file name should be the home page of your website by editing the .htaccess file. You just need to add the following code to the .htaccess file:

DirectoryIndex required_file_name

'required_file_name' should be substituted with the existing file name. If you want to set up a list of these files, please separate them with space symbols.

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