.php files downloading instead of executing

Question

I am brand new to Apache and PHP.

I created a helloworld.php file and when I run it, the file downloads and the command is never executed.

I use Ubuntu 16.04 with Apache 2 and PHP 7.1 .

I tried completely reinstalling everything and also editing the apache2.conf file with this :

<FilesMatch \.php$>
SetHandler application/x-httpd-php
</FilesMatch>

But this did not work.

But during the last step, I created an info.php file with these lines of code :

<?php
phpinfo();
?>

And the above lines were displayed as it is.

I tried finding the solution, but most of them mention a httpd.conf file, which I am not able to find anywhere.

I know this question has been asked multiple times before, but I didn't find a satisfactory solution.

do you have an /etc/apache2/mods-available/php7.* set of files ? if yes, you have to a2enmod php7 (on Debian, not certain about Ubuntu). — YvesLeBorg
– YvesLeBorg, Commented Jun 14, 2017 at 14:41
so where did you put this php file you created ? You have to put it in www directory. — George J Padayatti
– George J Padayatti, Commented Jun 14, 2017 at 14:42
mind telling us how you're accessing those files? Are you doing http://localhost/file.php or file:///file.php directly in the browser? @HarshBhardwaj — Funk Forty Niner
– Funk Forty Niner, Commented Jun 14, 2017 at 14:44

Dileep Kumar · Accepted Answer · 2017-06-15 07:12:12Z

2

Seems like apache PHP module is not installed. First of all install apache php module from following command:

sudo apt install php libapache2-mod-php

And then enable the module with following command:

sudo a2enmod php7.0

answered Jun 15, 2017 at 7:12

Dileep Kumar

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