There are two common ways to structure a PHP configuration file: : Best for global, unchangeable settings.

: A more traditional (and often discouraged) method involves declaring variables like $db_host = 'localhost'; which are then accessed via include . Specific Use Cases

In the simplest terms, config.php is a centralized PHP script that stores configuration directives for an application. Instead of hardcoding database passwords, timezones, or error-reporting levels into every single page, developers place these values into a single file. Every other script in the application then includes or requires this file at runtime.

/config/ /development/ config.php /production/ config.php config.default.php (template with dummy values)