How exactly is a PHP script executed?

Posted by alex on Stack Overflow See other posts from Stack Overflow or by alex
Published on 2010-04-27T10:49:16Z Indexed on 2010/04/27 10:53 UTC
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php

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parsing

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interpreter

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how-stuff-works

I was just thinking to myself "How exactly is a PHP script executed?" I thought it was parsed first for syntax errors etc, and then interpreted and executed.

However, I don't know why I believe that is correct. I'm probably wrong.

So, how exactly is a PHP file interpreted and executed? What stages does this involve? How do included files fit into the parsing of the script?

This is just to help me get my head around it. I'm interested and can not find a good answer with Google.

Thanks!

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