Question

How do I customize PHP’s built-in webserver so that it automatically renders the index.php or index.html file in the directory where it’s being redirected. It’s equivalent in Apache is the directory index:

<IfModule dir_module>
    DirectoryIndex index.html index.php
</IfModule>

I’ve already done an eyeball search and ctrl+f on php.ini for the word “directory” but no luck.
What file do I have to edit when I’m making use of PHP’s built-in webserver?

Answer 1

The new built in server is pretty bare bones, so lacks many of the features of Apache. By default it should automatically render the index.php or index.html, from the doco:

If a URI request does not specify a file, then either index.php or
index.html in the given directory are returned.

The only way I’ve found that you could alter which page is used (i.e. to emulate changing the DirectoyIndex directive) would be to use a router script:

If a PHP file is given on the command line when the web server is
started it is treated as a “router” script. The script is run at the
start of each HTTP request. If this script returns FALSE, then the
requested resource is returned as-is. Otherwise the script’s output is
returned to the browser.

If you are at the point you need to mess around with the directory index, maybe it is time to use a proper web server?