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What does the first P in PHP stands for? I assume the H is hypertext, the last P is preprocessor.

The 'P' in PHP stands for PHP. Yes, it's one of those recursive acronyms, like "GNU's not unix". -- DrBob


I could understand the origin of GNU because gnu itself is a real word, so the word play at least make sense. The G is chosen so that the acronym makes a real word. PHP is totally out of the blue. Why not XHP where X is recursive? Why the P? It is traditional for publication to expand on what an acronym stands for when it is referenced for the first time. From all the reference I have read, PHP is used as a word instead of an acronym. I read some history of PHP that it was the original author's "Personal Home Page" tool. Perhaps the acronym starts out as "Personal Home Page". But since it does not match what it actually is, the meaning is dropped and replaced with a faddish recursive arconym with no explanation on where the first P come from. Anyone know the real origin of the name?

---

All your doubts and inquiries are easily solved if you take the time to read the PHP manual:

http://www.php.net/manual/en/intro-history.php

The historical reasons are there for all to see, just a little search and reading will always make you avoid misunderstandings.


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Last edited December 12, 2001 7:32 am by 137.131.240.xxx (diff)
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