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What Happens When a PHP File is Called? (Under the Hood of PHP Execution)

What Happens When a PHP File is Called? (Under the Hood of PHP Execution)

Ever wondered what really happens when your browser requests a PHP file like hello.php? In this post, we’ll dive deep into PHP’s execution lifecycle — from a user’s request all the way to the response output. We'll explore how PHP parses your code, compiles it to opcodes, and executes it using the Zend Engine.