If you want to check the syntax of your PHP page without actually running it, the -l option (that's lower case letter L) to PHP at the command line will do that for you:
wellho@lightning:~/public_html$ php -l index.php
No syntax errors detected in index.html
wellho@lightning:~/public_html$
Remember - even if you're developing code on a systems that's not your main server, you can install an Apache httpd and a PHP onto almost any systems for testing .... including the PHP command line.
(written 2006-11-07)
Associated topics are indexed as below, or enter http://melksh.am/nnnn for individual articles
H999 - Additional PHP Material [54] PHP and natural sorting - (2004-09-19)
[239] What and why for the epoch - (2005-03-08)
[320] Ordnance Survey - using a 'Get a map' - (2005-05-22)
[322] More maps - (2005-05-23)
[337] the array returned by preg_match_all - (2005-06-06)
[372] Time calculation in PHP - (2005-07-08)
[468] Stand alone PHP programs - (2005-10-18)
[483] Double Dollars in PHP - (2005-11-02)
[493] Running a Perl script within a PHP page - (2005-11-12)
[563] Merging pictures using PHP and GD - (2006-01-13)
[603] PHP - setting sort order with an associative array - (2006-02-13)
[665] PHP Image viewing application - (2006-04-01)
[687] Presentation, Business and Persistence layers in Perl and PHP - (2006-04-17)
[789] Hot answers in PHP - (2006-07-02)
[806] Check your user is human. Have him retype a word in a graphic - (2006-07-17)
[822] PHP - a team member leaves - (2006-08-04)
[839] Reporting on the 10 largest files or 10 top scores - (2006-08-20)
[937] Display an image from a MySQL database in a web page via PHP - (2006-11-22)
[1010] Dates, times, clickable diarys in PHP - (2006-12-28)
[1020] Parallel processing in PHP - (2007-01-03)
[1053] Sorting people by name in PHP - (2007-01-26)
[1104] Drawing dynamic graphs in PHP - (2007-03-09)
[1194] Drawing hands on a clock face - PHP - (2007-05-19)
[1270] PHP Standalone - keyboard to screen - (2007-07-18)
[1389] Controlling and labelling Google maps via PHP - (2007-10-13)
[1390] Converting from postal address to latitude / longitude - (2007-10-13)
[1391] Ordnance Survey Grid Reference to Latitude / Longitude - (2007-10-14)
[1451] More PHP sample and demonstration programs - (2007-12-01)
[1485] Copyright and theft of images, bandwidth and members. - (2007-12-26)
[1505] Script to present commonly used images - PHP - (2008-01-13)
[1519] Flipping images on your web page - (2008-01-26)
[1623] PHP Techniques - a workshop - (2008-04-26)
[2073] Extra PHP Examples - (2009-03-09)
[2215] If nothing, make it nothing. - (2009-06-02)
[2684] Exception handling in PHP - (2010-03-18)
[3118] Arrays of arrays - or 2D arrays. How to program tables. - (2011-01-02)
[3210] Catchable fatal error in PHP ... How to catch, and alternative solutions such as JSON - (2011-03-22)
[4655] Image indexer / thumbnail display scripts in PHP - (2016-02-25)
H312 - PHP - Tips and Techniques [1649] Easy conversion - image formats, currencies and distances - (2008-05-21)
[1667] Checking server performance for PHP generated pages - (2008-06-06)
[1684] Two PHP include files to make easy web site indexing and navigation - (2008-06-21)
[1958] PHP - Parse error: syntax error, unexpected $end ... - (2008-12-23)
[1983] Keeping PHP code in database and running it - (2009-01-09)
[2025] Injection Attack if register_globals in on - PHP - (2009-02-04)
[2274] PHP preg functions - examples and comparision - (2009-07-08)
[2478] How did I do THAT? - (2009-10-26)
[2981] How to set up short and meaningfull alternative URLs - (2010-10-02)
[4074] A comment on comments in PHP - (2013-04-28)
[4310] Problem ... I want to print a series of numbered forms - (2014-10-05)
[4319] PHP - some quick fixes if scripts have issues, and how to use our support - (2014-11-19)
[4426] FileMaker Day to Unix Time conversion - (2015-02-15)
[4621] The power of scripting - (2016-01-12)
H101 - Introduction to PHP [48] PHP - onwards and upwards - (2004-09-14)
[55] Evening classes to learn PHP - (2004-09-19)
[93] Case Sensitive? - (2004-10-19)
[124] PHP v Java - (2004-11-20)
[132] Portrait of the author - (2004-11-27)
[135] Too many Perls - (2004-11-30)
[317] Programming languages - a comparison - (2005-05-20)
[341] Happy Birthday, PHP - (2005-06-09)
[380] Bridging to the customer requirement - (2005-07-16)
[382] Central London Courses - Perl, PHP, Python, Tcl, MySQL - (2005-07-18)
[433] FTP - how to make the right transfers - (2005-09-01)
[577] Learning to program in Perl or PHP - (2006-01-26)
[624] It's REALLY easy to add a little PHP - (2006-02-26)
[629] Choosing the right language - (2006-03-01)
[646] PHP - London course, Melksham Course, Evening course - (2006-03-14)
[691] Testing you Perl / PHP / MySQL / Tcl knowledge - (2006-04-19)
[712] Why reinvent the wheel - (2006-05-06)
[795] Remember a site's non-technical issues too - (2006-07-07)
[846] Is Perl being replaced by PHP and Python? - (2006-08-27)
[924] The LAMP Cookbook - Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP / Perl - (2006-11-13)
[949] Sludge off the mountain, and Python and PHP - (2006-11-27)
[1050] The HTML++ Metalanguage - (2007-01-22)
[1198] From Web to Web 2 - (2007-05-21)
[1717] Q - Should I use Perl or Python? - (2008-07-23)
[1753] Perl v PHP, choosing the right language - (2008-08-14)
[2097] PHP Course - for hobby / club / charity users. - (2009-03-22)
[3025] Learning to Program ... in PHP. Course examples. - (2010-11-01)
[4118] We not only teach PHP and Python - we teach good PHP and Python Practice! - (2013-06-18)
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French ExchangeA lion in a cage - PHPFreedom for X is denial of privacy for YDatabases needn't be frightening, hard or expensiveSyntax checking in PHPDriving customers awayPaging through hundreds of entriesA practical example of rolesPython - A list of methodsRecursion in Python