PHP Built-In Web Server & Testing Your Development Project In Mobile Without Any Software

In this article, you will learn how to start the PHP built-in web server. How to connect to your computer to mobile hotspot and test your PHP project from your computer in a mobile browser.

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Step 1 - Setup Local Working PHP Project

For the sake of demonstration I have created testserver as PHP project inside htdocs folder. You might be creating inside /var/www/html depending on software you use in your computer. You might be having working project

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Step 2 - Create index.php & Add Code For Testing

Now in my testserver project folder I have created index.php and added the following code in it

<?php
echo 'Local Web Development Testing!';

NOTE: If your using any framework like LARAVEL / SYMFONY which points to public folder then don't loose hopes I have even covered in this article, please continue reading

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Step 3 - Connect Your Laptop To Mobile Hotspot

Now turn on your mobile hotspot and connect your laptop to it. I use ( Android ) Redmi Note phone and you can find the hotspot enabling option with the following, this will mostly remain same for other devices too

i. Settings -> Portable Hotspot ->Portable Hotspot ( Turn On By Clicking Switch Button )

ii. Click On Setup Portable Hotspot -> Set SSID & PASSWORD

Your all set to share & connect your hotspot with SSID & PASSWORD

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Step 4 - Check IP Address Of Your Laptop

After connecting your laptop to mobile hotspot. Go to your terminal and type the following command

MACBOOK / UBUNTU

ifconfig 

Windows

ipconfig

You will see the ip address allocated to your laptop there, for example mine is shown in the following image

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Step 5 - Start Your PHP Built In Server From Step 4 IP Address

Now go to your PHP project folder ie testserver from the terminal and run the following command to turn on the PHP built in server.

sudo php -S 192.168.43.43:80

If you have any specific path like public folder in you use LARAVEL to start with then use -t parameters as follows

sudo php -S 192.168.43.43:80 -t public

Here we are using the same IP Address 192.168.43.43 as that of my laptop got assigned after connecting to mobile hotspot in Step 3. And I want it to get connected with port 80 by default

You will get the following success output after running the above command

Plain PHP Output

sudo php -S 192.168.43.43:8888

#ouput
Password:

PHP 7.2.21 Development Server started at Sat Apr 25 13:34:56 2020

Listening on http://192.168.43.43:8888

Document root is /Applications/MAMP/htdocs/testserver

Press Ctrl-C to quit.

[Sat Apr 25 13:35:11 2020] 192.168.43.1:45870 [200]: /

Laravel Project With Public Folder

sudo php -S 192.168.43.43:80 -t public
Password:
PHP 7.2.21 Development Server started at Sat Apr 25 13:40:13 2020
Listening on http://192.168.43.43:80
Document root is /Applications/MAMP/htdocs/stackcoder/public
Press Ctrl-C to quit.

Now your application is ready to be access with http://192.168.43.43:80 URL. No need to add port 80 as its the default port for HTTP. You can test the same in your laptop before going to your phone browser.

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Step 6 - Testing In Your Mobile Browser

Now go to your phone browser and open the URL http://192.168.43.43 you will be able to see the application developed as shown in the following image

Plain PHP Project

Laravel Project Which Points To Public Folder

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Conclusion

Hope this article helped you. You might be interested in my other articles

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