PHP script not working in HTML file

Question

I\'m new to PHP. I installed XAMPP and have Apache running. I created helloworld.php in XAMPP\'s htdocs and got PHP to display in my browser. My question is, why does my PHP

Answer 1

The php module for apache registers itself as handler for the mime type application/x-httpd-php. And the configuration file apache\conf\extra\httpd-xampp.conf contains the lines

    SetHandler application/x-httpd-php

which tells the apache that all files having .php as name extension are to be processes by the handler for application/x-httpd-php.
If you (really) want to have your .html files handled by the php module as well you have to add something similar for .html extensions. (there are other methods to tell the apache which extension maps to which mime type/handler. But FilesMatch/SetHandler is fine.)
If you want to enable this "feature" for only one directory you can use an .htaccess file to change the configuration for that directory (and its subdirectories).