Question

I use a hosting server. I would like to simply open some text files with PHP and write some of the data into my server’s database.
This is unrelated to any front-end/user activity.
I have never done this before and I am not sure where is the optimal location on the server…
I see directories at top level such as PHP is that it?

I should also add that I do not understand how to execute a PHP script in a non-HTML form context

please advise on that as well
sorry if this is stupid.

Answer 1

what directory should I put this script in?
I would like to simply open some text files with PHP and write some of the data into my local database

I usually have a bin directory in my project directory (next to webroot).

I see directories at top level such as PHP is that it?

I can’t see any reason to have a top level PHP directory in the first place.

I should also add that I do not understand how to execute a PHP script in a non-HTML form context

Assuming it has a shebang line, you just run it:

~/projects/myProject/bin/myScript.php

or (and not needing the shebang):

php ~/projects/myProjects/bin/myScript.php