php-src

php-src is the official source code repository for the PHP programming language interpreter. PHP is a general-purpose scripting language designed primarily for web development that has been one of the most widely used server-side languages on the web for decades. The problem it addresses is the need for a fast, flexible language that can be embedded in HTML pages and run on a server to generate dynamic web content, handle form submissions, interact with databases, and build web applications of any size.

This repository contains the actual C source code that compiles into the PHP interpreter — the program that reads and executes PHP scripts. It includes the language core, the standard library, and many of the built-in extensions that come bundled with PHP such as database connectors, cryptography, XML processing, and image manipulation. New PHP features go through a formal Request for Comments process where contributors and core developers vote on proposed additions to the language. The repository also includes an extensive test suite used to verify that the interpreter behaves correctly.

You would look at this repository if you are a PHP core contributor, want to understand how the PHP interpreter is implemented, need to compile PHP from source with custom configuration options, or want to submit a bug fix or feature. If you are a developer building web applications using PHP, you would typically install PHP from prebuilt packages for your operating system rather than from this source. The tech stack is C for the interpreter itself, with PHP and shell scripts used for the test suite and build tooling.