Simple Web Server, Using Python or PHP

If you need a quick way to test web pages and you don’t want to go through the hassle (and overhead) of installing and configuring Apache, Python and PHP have web servers built right in!

Change to the directory that contains your HTML files.

cd path/to/HTML/files

Start up the Python web server. This example will listen on port 8080, but you can use any port you want.

python -m SimpleHTTPServer 8080

Now, you access your files through http://localhost:8080.

You can also start an instance with CGI support. (The server will look for CGI scripts in path/to/HTML/files/cgi-bin by default)

python -m CGIHTTPServer 8080

I’ve only tested this with Python 2.x. My understanding is that SimpleHTTPServer and CGIHTTPServer are deprecated in Python 3 in favor of http.server.

Python 3 uses different syntax. After changing to the directory containing your HTML files, issue this command:

python3 -m http.server

If you need CGI support, use this:

python3 -m http.server --cgi

If you need support for server-side PHP programming, php.exe also has a web server built in. In the directory where your .php files reside, execute php.exe as follows:

php -S localhost:8080

Then, you can access your files through http://localhost:8080. Again, you can change the port to whatever you need.

If you need remote access to your files (from other machines on the local network), use this:

php -S 0.0.0.0:8080

I put together a couple of scripts to simplify starting the server. (They both perform the same task. One is in bash script, the other is in Ruby. Use whichever you prefer.)

localweb.sh

#!/usr/bin/env bash
 
statusmsg(){
    if [ $1 == "pysimple" ]; then
        echo "Simple Web Server, using Python"
    fi
 
    if [ $1 == "pycgi" ]; then
        echo "Simple Web Server w/ CGI Support, using Python"
    fi
 
    if [ $1 == "php" ]; then
        echo "Simple Web Server, using PHP"
    fi
 
    if [ $1 == "phprem" ]; then
        echo "Simple Web Server, using PHP, with remote access"
    fi
 
    echo "(Ctrl-C to exit the running server.)"
    echo ""
}
 
usage(){
    echo "USAGE:"
    echo ""
    echo "  $0 pysimple <port_number>   (starts a simple web server, using Python)"
    echo "  or"
    echo "  $0 pycgi <port_number>      (starts a simple web server, with CGI support, using Python)"
    echo "  or"
    echo "  $0 php <port_number>   (starts a simple web server, using PHP)"
    echo "  or"
    echo "  $0 phprem <port_number>   (starts a simple web server, using PHP, with remote access)"
    echo ""
    echo "e.g.: '$0 pycgi 81' starts a simple web server with CGI support, using Python, listening on port 81."
 
    exit
}
 
if [ $# -ne 2 ]; then
    usage
fi
 
if [ $1 == "pysimple" ]; then
    statusmsg $1
    python -m SimpleHTTPServer $2
    exit
fi
 
if [ $1 == "pycgi" ]; then
    statusmsg $1
    python -m CGIHTTPServer $2
    exit
fi
 
if [ $1 == "php" ]; then
    statusmsg $1
    php -S localhost:$2
    exit
fi
 
if [ $1 == "phprem" ]; then
    statusmsg $1
    php -S 0.0.0.0:$2
    exit
fi
 
usage

localweb.rb

#!/usr/bin/env ruby
 
class WebMgr
	attr_accessor :server_type
	attr_accessor :server_port
	attr_accessor :usage_message
 
	def initialize
		@usage_message =
		"USAGE:\n" +
		"\tlocalweb pysimple <port_number>   (starts a simple web server, using Python)\n" +
		"\tor\n" +
		"\tlocalweb pycgi <port_number>      (starts a simple web server, with CGI support, using Python)\n" +
		"\tor\n" +
		"\tlocalweb php <port_number>        (starts a simple web server, using PHP)\n" +
		"\tor\n" +
		"\tlocalweb phprem <port_number>     (starts a simple web server, using PHP, with remote access)\n"
 
		if (ARGV[0] == nil)
			@server_type = ''
		else
			@server_type = ARGV[0]
		end
 
		if (ARGV[1] == nil)
			@server_port =  80
		else
			@server_port = ARGV[1]
		end
	end
 
	def StartServer
		case @server_type
			when 'pysimple'
				exec "python -m SimpleHTTPServer " + @server_port
			when 'pycgi'
				exec "python -m CGIHTTPServer " + @server_port
			when 'php'
				exec "php -S localhost:" + @server_port
			when 'phprem'
				exec "php -S 0.0.0.0:" + @server_port
			else
				puts @usage_message
		end
	end
end
 
### Main ###
begin
	myWebMgr = WebMgr.new
 
	if (ARGV[0] == nil)
		puts myWebMgr.usage_message
	else
		myWebMgr.StartServer
	end
 
rescue Exception => ex
	puts "An exception occurred: " + ex
end

If you need more horsepower, i.e., an easy to configure LAMP dev server, I highly recommend XAMPP. This will give you a full LAMP stack that won't conflict with your existing setup.