The php.ini file is a specific file for PHP usually found in a website root directory and allows control over a web hosting’s php settings such as suPHP (pronounced sue-p-h-p). When a PHP Server starts up it looks for the php.ini file first in order to load various values for the website settings. If changes are made to php.ini then you will need to restart your server in order to make sure that they have taken effect.

It is possible to use the default settings for the server and change specific settings by editing the existing php.ini, or create a new text file and name it php.ini. Hosting packages already have the php settings set by the administrators but should you need to change or override any of these then editing the php.ini file will be required.

This is a short introduction to the php.ini file, in future posts we will show you what edits can be made to this file and how they effect the server.