PHP :: Apache/PHP Not Giving Me Error Messages

Strange Apache Error Log Messages When Viewing PHP Scripts
Whenever I would view any of my PHP scripts on any of a number of
servers that I run, the Apache error logs on each of them would have
this rather strange error:

[Tue Mar 28 13:01:33 2006] [error] [client *.*.*.*] File does not
exist: C:/Program Files/Apache Group/Apache2/htdocs/tools/myapp/tools,
referer: http://www.myappworld.com/tools/myapp

It never generates any PHP-related errors, warnings, notices, anything
related to this of any kind; furthermore, all of my apps on all of my
servers run with no problems whatsoever, however, multiple instances of
this very same error message occurs at each page that I visit.

there is no such file nor directory, of course, as
"../htdocs/tools/myapp/tools", however, there is "/htdocs/tools/myapp".

Declaring Global Variables Giving Error
<?php
____session_start();
____global $strName;
____session_register("strName");
?>

I want to declare global variables but. the above code gives error as follows .

"Parse error: parse error in /var/www/html/abc.php on line 3"

The line 3 points to ... global $strName;

Simple Login Script And Form Giving T_VARIABLE Error
I know next to nothing about php scripting and have this relatively simple login script that asks for a login and pass word from a form and then redirects the user to another page. It won't run and I can't figure out how to get it to run. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Here is the form:
<form action="verify.php" method="post">
Username: <input type="text" name="username"><br>
Password: <input type="password" name="password"><br>
<input type="submit" value=" Login ">
</form>

Here is what I have in verify.php:
<?php

  $username = $HTTP_POST_VARS['username'];
  $password = $HTTP_POST_VARS['password'];

  // location of page to go to if username and password match
  $url = "protected.php";

  $user_array = array("protected");
  $pass_array = array("files");
  $user_length = count( $user_array );

  for ( $i = 0; $i < $user_length; $i++ )
  {
    if ( $username == $user_array[$i] && $password == $pass_array[$i] )
    {
      session_start();
      session_register("user");
      session_register("loggedIn");
      $_SESSION['user'] = $username;
      $_SESSION['loggedIn'] = "true";

      header("Location: $url");
    }
  }

  // nothing became valid while we looped so verification failed
  echo '<b>Verification Failed!</b>'

?>

I get the unexpected T_Variable error on line 3 of the verify.php script.

This is on a IIS server with PHP 4.2.x installed. I have no control over any settings. And yes Global_Variables are off and it is not an option to turn them on.

Error Messages
I set to php.ini this

error_reporting=E_ALL & ~E_NOTICE

to be a list of error messages and some warnings/tips on the code written.

All good, but if I have code like

------------------------
function foo(string $x)
{
echo($x);
}

foo("hi");
------------------------

I got this error

------------------------
Catchable fatal error: Argument 1 passed to foo() must be an instance of
string, string given, called in E:WorkphpphpFramework est.php on line 8
and defined in E:WorkphpphpFramework est.php on line 3
------------------------

!!!but... is not "hi" a string?
What kind of *Catchable fatal error* would be this?

:)

I write foo(string $x) exactly to say that the function need a string!

Suppressing Error Messages
Could any one please tell me a command in php to suppress error messages that come because of any reason like query invalid or any other problem .i would like to see none of the error message s to come, even if there are errors(sounds weird but i need that).

Suppressing Error Messages
I keep getting an error that I don't want to show up, i have not been able to get rid of it either and i was just currious of how I might go about suppressing this error
PHP Code:

Storing Error Messages
I know how to turn off error reporting to stop php from printing the error messages but what if I also want to store the error messages into an mysql table? What's the variable that stores the error message?

Not Displaying Error Messages
Is there a simple way to prevent error messages (falsely connecting to
database etc.) being diplayed?
My own build in messages are enough...

Turn Off Error Messages
I get this error message

Warning: getimagesize() [function.getimagesize]: Read error! in /mnt/w0400/d11/s01/b02a5c57/www/familyclick.ca/messageCenter/writeMessage.php on line 95

Warning: Division by zero in /mnt/w0400/d11/s01/b02a5c57/www/familyclick.ca/messageCenter/writeMessage.php on line 102

The problem I'm having I'm having a hard time preventing the error. Is there a way to turn error messages off on certain pages. Ideally I would like to log these errors any idea how to do this.

No Error Messages In Mamp
Im trying to use the mamp set up on a mac. For some reason error messages dont display in the browser which make development quite difficult. Does anyone know how to turn error messages on?

How To Suppress Error Messages Without Using Error_reporting(0) ?
This line:

if (file_exists($fileName)) {

is (on some web servers) giving me this kind of error:

Warning: SAFE MODE Restriction in effect. The script whose uid is 1022
is not allowed to access /home/www owned by uid 0 in
/home/www/krubner/ppKernel/McControllerForAll.php on line 454

This only happens when the software is checking directories that are
above what where PHP is allowed to check.

I want this software to work on all servers and I don't want the end
user to have to know PHP, and so I don't want them to have to set
error_reporting() on their own. I also feel like I shouldn't have to
do this:

error_reporting(0);

because my software should capture all errors on its own and store all
the error messages that I write in the resultsObject that my software
uses. Turning off error reporting is cheating, in my view, the
programmer should capture all errors on their own.

So how do I suppress errors on a line like this?

if (file_exists($fileName)) {

PHP Error Messages As String In A Variable
Can I put all errors which PHP outputs when error_reporting(E_ALL); is
activated into a variable? I want to react if an error occurs.
I'm working on a Script to check if an ftp is running or not. The only way
to get the error message of the ftp when the connection fails is if
error_reporting(E_WARNING); or error_reporting(E_ALL); is activated. I want
to format the Error Message. E.g. The errormessage is:
Warning: ftp_login() [function.ftp-login]: Sorry, Over 2 connection not
allow in c:inetpubwwwrootscriptsvbb_ftp.php on line 13.

I only want this output: "Status: Sorry, Over 2 connection not allow "

Apache2Triad PHP Errors Without Error Messages
How do I get Apache2Triad to print the reason it stops while executing
my PHP
programs?

Mail(): Error Messages NOT Back To Wwwrun?
a friend was so kind to host my php scripts. but when they use mail()
or phpmailer (or whatever) to email e.g. to an invalid address, the
returning error message appears in *my friend's email inbox*
(recipient - or sender? - is "wwwrun" of my friend's machine). I
guess you understand which problem I mean. To fix the problem, I would
like to understand what is going on here - in the mail header, i did
set replyto, x-sender and from to *my* email address, but it doesnt
help. so where must I change what to free my kind friend from this
"spam"?

Open_basedir Is Commneted Out In My Php.ini File, Yet I Still Get The Error Messages
If I ssh to my server and look at the php.ini file, it apears that
open_basedir is off:

Interpreting Error Messages From Include Files...
lets say i have the following files:

1. error.php: that is routed to for all errors. this page should
display proper and explanatory error messages to the user based on the
parameter provided.
2. errordef.php: has all the error codes and their explanations
"defined" as constants.

now, say if i have 3 different files viz. a.php, b.php and c.php, and
when any error occuring in either these files, i want to route to
error.php for detailed explanation. each a.php, b.php and c.php passes
error code to error.php, but error.php should interpret the code from
the definition file errordef.php!

Putting Form Error Messages Into A List
I have some form validation and I want to put all the error messages that are displayed into a bulleted list. I have seen it done with more complicated validation using OOP but I don't know enough to do that. How would I add these error messages to a list if they occur? Code:

Links Pointing On PHP Manual Not Shown In Error Messages
I have html_errors set On and it's visible that it's on because I get some parts
of the error messages bold. The problem is I can't get any links to point to the
PHP manual.
docref_root = "/php_manual/"
docref_ext = ".html"
are set but no links are appearing. By that I mean there are absolutely no <a>
tags or anything of that sort in my error outputs. I tried generating almost
every type of error but please if somebody could post a line or two of code that
produces some clickable error message on their box so that I can test it on my.
(send the output also, please)

if my script is:
<?php
$var1 = 'var1'
$var2 = 'var2'
?>
I get this output
<br />
<b>Parse error</b>: syntax error, unexpected T_VARIABLE in
<b>e:www estarray.php</b> on line <b>3</b><br />

shouldn't there be any links in that pointing to PHP manual in my php_manual
dir? :-(

"Cannot Find Module" Error Messages In PHP
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.X.

I'm writing command-line PHP scripts for the first time.

I get the messages below. What do they mean? Are these operating system
library modules, or something in PHP that I don't have? Do I need to
install more Linux packages? Or adjust PHP in some way?

[dashley@pamc standalone]$ ./sitehashkeygen.php
No log handling enabled - turning on stderr logging
Cannot find module (IP-MIB): At line 0 in (none)
Cannot find module (IF-MIB): At line 0 in (none)
Cannot find module (TCP-MIB): At line 0 in (none)
Cannot find module (UDP-MIB): At line 0 in (none)
Cannot find module (HOST-RESOURCES-MIB): At line 0 in (none)
Cannot find module (SNMPv2-MIB): At line 0 in (none)
Cannot find module (SNMPv2-SMI): At line 0 in (none)
Cannot find module (NOTIFICATION-LOG-MIB): At line 0 in (none)
Cannot find module (UCD-SNMP-MIB): At line 0 in (none)
Cannot find module (UCD-DEMO-MIB): At line 0 in (none)
Cannot find module (SNMP-TARGET-MIB): At line 0 in (none)
Cannot find module (NET-SNMP-AGENT-MIB): At line 0 in (none)
Cannot find module (HOST-RESOURCES-TYPES): At line 0 in (none)
Cannot find module (LM-SENSORS-MIB): At line 0 in (none)
Cannot find module (IPV6-ICMP-MIB): At line 0 in (none)
Cannot find module (IPV6-MIB): At line 0 in (none)
Cannot find module (IPV6-TCP-MIB): At line 0 in (none)
Cannot find module (IPV6-UDP-MIB): At line 0 in (none)
Cannot find module (SNMP-VIEW-BASED-ACM-MIB): At line 0 in (none)
Cannot find module (SNMP-COMMUNITY-MIB): At line 0 in (none)
Cannot find module (UCD-DLMOD-MIB): At line 0 in (none)
Cannot find module (SNMP-FRAMEWORK-MIB): At line 0 in (none)
Cannot find module (SNMP-MPD-MIB): At line 0 in (none)
Cannot find module (SNMP-USER-BASED-SM-MIB): At line 0 in (none)
Cannot find module (SNMP-NOTIFICATION-MIB): At line 0 in (none)
Cannot find module (SNMPv2-TM): At line 0 in (none)
Content-type: text/html
X-Powered-By: PHP/4.3.9

Apache Error?
I am creating a logon screen which seems to work fine unless the folowing combination happens:

1) log on with a correct userid and password
2) close window, and logon again, this time with a wrong userid password.

What than happens is the following popup message: APACHE caused an invalid page fault in
module PHP4TS.DLL at 015f:100ddfc1. Registers:

Than the browserscreen gives a message showing the SQL statement followed by NO DATABASE FOUND or something.

Php5 Apache Error
I just installed on a new machine windows server 2003 and installed apache 2.2 on it and then unzip the php 5.1 files in c:php5 then added the load module php5_module line in httpd conf file copied the php5ts.dll to system32 and also in apache bin but when i start apache it keeps giving me error php5apache2.dll module not found if i remove this line from apache it works fine and apache starts but if i add this line it does not start can anybody suggest how to fix the problem why cant apache find the file php5apache2.dll the path is correct.

Phpmyadmin Error On Apache
i just replaced ms pws with apache 1.3.20, i am on win98. whenever i try to browse the contents of a mysql table on phpmyadmin, i get an illegal operation error with this message: - PHP caused an invalid page fault in module PHP4TS.DLL. does some one have a solution to this problem - other than changing win98.

Error Installing PHP 5.2 With Apache 1.3
I'm a big newbie with all this, and I'm trying to install PHP 5.2 under
Apache 1.3, my OS is Win XP. I first installed Apache and it is working
fine. Please go through the following steps / file fragments and tell
me where I'm going wrong in installing PHP.

1- I unzipped the PHP files to C:/Programming/PHP, and also copied the
dll's to the system32 directory.

2- I copied the php.ini-dist file to the windows directory (renamed as
php.ini) and added the following to it -
doc_root = "C:/Programming/Apache Group/Apache/htdocs"
extension_dir = "C:/Programming/PHP/ext"

Also I turned on extensions for various things.

3- Then I added the following lines to the httpd.conf file -
LoadModule php5_module "C:/Programming/PHP/php5apache.dll"
Addmodule mod_php5.c
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php

Then when I made a test.php in the Apache htdocs directory, it gives me
the option of downloading the file (that means it is finding the file,
I guess. It doesn't know what to do with it.)

Send Default Apache 404 Error From Php
How can I trigger the default Apache 404 error from PHP? I don't want
to specify a custom handler, I want the default handler. The reason is
that I am using mod_rewrite with Apache for my site. If certain a
certain page is requested that is not published, then I want to send
the apache default 404 error page. Currently, I am doing this to
return a custom error.

if($pageNotPublished) {
header("HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found");
// How do I send the default apache 404 message
// instead of the message below?
print("<html><body>HTTP 404 - Not Found</body></html>");
exit();
}

The default 404 error page has more details,

Php Errors Going To Apache Error Log - Can't Change
I've got a problem with a bunch of "PHP Warning" and "PHP Notice"
messages being dumped into my apache error log, on a FC4 server. I
tried editing the /etc/php.ini file, changing the "error_log =" to it's
own file, and even tried turning off logging all together. No luck.
No matter what I do, these messages still end up my apache log.

Query Oci_parse() Apache Error
I get this error, apparently because of my Query:

Apache.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for
the inconvenience.

the error in on oci_parse() , but when I replace the above query with for
example "select * from clients"; I don't get the error. Though I need to
use query I put in variable $query....

All my other variables are ok, and the query works when I use it in SQL
worksheet for instance. (I use oracle 9i, php5, apche 1.3)

what can I do with that query to make it work?

$req_id = $_GET['request_id'];

print "request id : $req_id <br>";

$req_name = $_POST['request_name'];

print "request_name -> $req_name <br>";

$req_date = $_POST['request_date'];

print "request_date -> $req_date <br>";

$req_client_id = $_POST['request_client_name'];

print "request_client_name -> $req_client_id <br>";

$req_req_type_id = $_POST['request_type'];

print "request_type -> $req_req_type_id <br>";

$req_brand_id = $_POST['request_brand_name'];

if ($req_brand_id=='Brand Name') $req_brand_id='NULL'

R_PPC_REL24 Relocation Error With Apache
I've been scanning groups and Googling and can't figure out why I'm
getting this error. I've read about using the -fPIC flag but I've been
doing that.

Cannot load /usr/local/apache2/modules/libphp5.so into server:
/usr/local/apache2/modules/libphp5.so: R_PPC_REL24 relocation at
0x0e56191c for symbol `floor' out of range

Lots of people post about this problem but I can't find solutions. The
symbol out of range changes, but the problem is always this R_PPC_REL24
relocation.

Apache Error Log Fills Up With Php Notice:
apache error log:

/var/log/httpd-error.log

gets filled up with various notices such as:

php notice: Use of undefined constant name - assumed 'name' in xxxxx on
line 1, referer: yyyy

the size of the file is 200 mb now..

how do I suppress these notices without touching my php source code ?

Local Apache Server Error, But Ok When Hosted
I have just used a script that includes the first line

session_start();

On my computer where I have apache php and mysql installed I get the error:

Warning: session_start(): open(/tmpsess_4e8a9cf51a21ab1c9fe26630d5446262, O_RDWR) failed: No such file or directory (2) in c:serverapachehtdocsmaindex.php on line 2

But when I upload it to my host the page works without errors. Is there a problem with my apache setup or is it a php thing?

Error Loading Php_mysql.dll On Apache Startup
Since yesterday, when I try and start apache, I get the following
message:

Warning:
PHP Startup: Unable to load dynamic library 'C:Program
FilesPHPextphp_mysql.dll' - the specified procedure could not be
found.

I am running PHP 5.0 on Apache 2 and have been for some time. I got
this error when I first installed PHP5/Apache2 on this machine (a
totally fresh install - HDD reformat!!) However, it went away, and I
can't remember what I did to get rid of it.

I originally thought it was because I had a space in the location of
the dll. but I have been running it this way for a long time. I have
not changed my php.ini recently, other than trying to solve this
problem (not got any further than just commenting/uncommenting the
line that loads that module.

The module is definitely located where it is looking. I have no clue
what is going on.

Mysql_connect Error Apache Web Server To Windows Hosted Database
I've got MySQL 5.0.21 running on Windows Server 2003, and php running
on Apache on a Linux box (Fedora Core 4).

Previously when the pages were running on an IIS server the connection
was succesful, now I get:

Can't connect to MySQL server on 'SERVER' (13)

I'm connecting using:

$db = mysql_connect("SERVER", "USER", "PASSWORD")
or die("Could not connect to database:
".mysql_error());
mysql_select_db("DATABASE", $db)
or die("Could not select database: ".mysql_error());

However from the linux box I can connect no problems using:
mysql --host=SERVER -u USER -p

Date Giving
I am creating a script to add/edit/delete NET ASSET values for a website.
However, when I "update" the value of a net asset, the NAV and NETAsset output fine, however, the date is updated as 00-00-0000 rather than the actual date.
Can anyone look at my script and telling me why the date is outputting as 00-00-0000 rather than the date that is selected? Code:

Fread() Giving Unwanted 's
I am using the following line to read a file

$contents = fread ($fd, filesize ($filename));

I edit the $contents in a textarea and send it through a form in a string and when it writes the new string to the file it adds 's.

for example:

<BODY TEXT="#FFFFFF" BGCOLOR="#010258" LINK="#99CCFF" ALINK="#99CCFF" VLINK="#6699FF">
<FONT FACE=\"BankGothic Lt BT\>Click Back on your Browser to return to the Item Description</font>
<P><IMG SRC="A-01-0041z.jpg"

Can someone lead me in the direction to find a way to remove these slashes? a function?

Giving Rights While Uploading Files
I made an upload form so people can upload files to my side. But when I access the folder through ftp I can't modify the files that have been uploaded. The folderrights are set to 777 but the files are automatically set to 755. Is there a way to set the rights to 777 while uploading?

CURL Giving Weird Problem.
I have written a cURL / php based application... now i am facing a very weird problem..

it is working from my office PC as well as my home PC . also it is working for one of my friends.. but at the same time it is not working for a lot of people.... even i checked it from my office another PC and it is giving error..

it gives error of PAGE NOT FOUND...

I am just stuck with it and dont know what to do to solve this problem.. can anyone help please that why is it working for some PCs and not working from some PCs?

Query Giving Array As Result
I just started PHP and getting the following error when trying to read and echo something from my DB. I get Array as an result of a working SQL query (I tested it in PHPMyAdmin SQL Query) and it should be something else. Array doesnt return in the database i selected, but still it's here.

<?
$host="localhost";
$user="xxxxxxxxx";
$password="xxxxxxxxxxx";
$dbname="mohaaleague";
$connection = mysql_connect($host, $user, $password) or die ("Kan niet verbinden");
$clan = "Belgian Fun Clan";
$db = mysql_select_db ($dbname,$connection) or die("Je Stinkt");
//SELECT clan FROM clan WHERE clan='Belgian Fun Clan'
$query = "SELECT clan FROM clan" or die("Query Mislukt");
$result = mysql_query($query) or die("Query Mislukt1");
$row = mysql_fetch_array($result, MYSQL_ASSOC) or die("Query Mislukt2");
extract($row);

echo($row. "<br>");
if ( $clan == $row )
{
echo "het werkt";
}
else
{
echo "het werkt niet";
}
$disconnect = "mysql_close";
?>

Mktime() Giving Me Different Times When Run From Different Servers
mktime() is giving me different times when run from different servers. Of course this would be normal if I were running the function empty, but here's what I'm doing:

$y = date('Y', (mktime() - 10800)); // 3 hour diff w/ server
$m = date('m', (mktime() - 10800));
$d = date('d', (mktime() - 10800));

$this->today = mktime(0,0,0,$m,$d,$y);

(the 3-hour adjust is only because the client's timezone is 3 hours off from the server's - it's done so that the entries they make flip over to the next day at midnight in their time zone, not the server's)

Anyway, $this->today should always be midnight on the day specified, since I'm feeding it zero minutes, seconds, hours and a specific day, month, year. Instead it's 4 hours later in the server's timezone (1122696000) and 7 hours later in the client's timezone (1122706800). So not only is it wrong, it appears to be deriving its hour setting from the server, rather than using the 0 I'm feeding it.

What the heck am I doing wrong? How can I get the zero hour/minute/second of the specified day as a unix timestamp?

How Do I Stop People Seeing My Php Code And Giving My Product Away?
I am currently working on a program for small business, done using HTML/PHP and MySql. It will run on internal Intranets. Aside from legal ties, how can I keep people from viewing the source code and giving my product away to others?

Fopen Is Giving Errors Any Thing I Could Replace It With.
My website gets a PHP error as below.

main(): php_network_getaddresses: getaddrinfo failed: Name or service
not known in ....

And after an hour or two Everything becomes OK automatically. Please
let me know why above errors comes sometimes.

I use a php function fopen() to reuse other webpages at different
places. This error does not come always but sometimes randomly. And my
error_log gets completely full of this error daily.

Any one knows how to rectify this problem. Is there any alternative I
should try.

I use fopen() function a lot to reduce the file sizes.

PhpDocumentor Beta Giving Unexpected Results
Overall, I'm pleased with phpDocumentor, but I've only been using it a
day, and I'm not getting exactly what I expected. I've read the FAQ,
Tutorial and Manual briefly.

I'm using WinXP
PHP Version 5.0.4
phpDocumentor version 1.3.0RC6

Many of my files and functions are not being documented right and are
not being categorized into the correct package.
At first I noticed it on the functions, and using the
HTML:frames:default the displayed Fx link was on the LH frame, but
clicking just showed a blank page on the RH frame. I wondered if
indentation was a problem, but I've tried both ways, and I'm not
getting any Fx descriptions from the DocBlocks and tags I've inserted.

The (mandatory?) page-level DocBlock with @package tag at top, seems
strongly suggested, so I've tried to comply. A following "require"
statement often gives error, so I've used a dummy DocBlock for that
separately, such as:
/**
* include require stuff
*/

I notice files that use a page-leve DocBlock with the same @package
and @subpackage tags, are not all being categorized correctly, some
falling into default package.

I used Pear to install phpDocumentor

Quote:

Giving Verification Code To Users By Telephone Them
In some web site for complete registration after afew seconds they call you and a robot tell you a code then you should enter it. If it's conform to code that store on DB your registration is completed.

How they can do it? Do i need special software? or not i can program it with PHP?

IF Statement Giving Wrong Result After Image Resize
This bit of script copys an uploaded image to a directory after it has been resized. The image resize works and the image is copied to the required destination. The only problem is what is echoed to the screen. Since all actions have been performed, it should echo "File stored sucessfully as $filename.". Instead it echos "Could not save file as $filename". Any pointers to where i may be going wrong? PHP Code:

Regular Expressions: Simple Email Validation Is Giving Me Fits!
To my eye this code should work, however, it doesn't. Suffice it to say, I cannot spot my error.

Can't Install PHP - Keep Getting "Invalid Directory" Error Regarding The Path To Apache Httpd.h
I've installed Apache 1.3.36 on my Redhat EL 3 machine. Now I'm trying
to install PHP 5.1.4. I can not get the ./configure command to work. I
keep getting this error:

configure: error: Invalid Apache directory - unable to find httpd.h
under /usr/local/apache/include

So then I run this command:

find / -name httpd.h

which should find every file on my machine with the name "httpd.h".
These are the results I get:

/usr/local/apache/include/httpd.h
/home/shelley/apache_1.3.36/src/include/httpd.h

So I've rerun the ./configure command, using this first:

--with-apache=/usr/local/apche/include

and since that didn't work:

--with-apache=/home/shelley/apache_1.3.36/src/include/httpd.h

but I get the "Invalid directory" error with both addresses.

Die Messages..
Is there a way to change die to either a pop up error so that when the user clicks ok it'll close the pop up and then they can correct what needs to be done. I have this done for validation stuff using javascript but not for when there is a php or mysql issue involved as i was unsure it could be done?

Or is there a way to change die to a location method without loosing the player's inputted data when they go back to the page to correct their mistake?

Reason why is i'm trying to eliminate the die's where by it goes to a new page just to display "your password incorrect", its mainly to keep it a bit more professional looking.. which is the best way in your opinion ?

Sending MSN/ICQ Messages
Does anybody know if it's possible to send MSN/ICQ messages with PHP to registered MSN/ICQ users?

Getting Contradictory Messages.
I know little to nothing about PHP and need to clarify something before
committing to learning it.

From what I have heard PHP would be ideal to interrogate a database and
populate HTML tables with found data (text AND URL's).

However, what I want to do is to have the files on a CD rather than a web
site.

One colleague assures me that having PHP run on my machine is not a problem.
Another says absolutely not, PHP is server based.

So, my question is can PHP be run locally to access data and web pages on a
CD? And a follow up is, can PHP (also?) be installed ON the CD and be able
to run on any PC that had a compatible browser?