Is PHP for Windows the same as Linux, Mac, etc.?

Question

If I write PHP (php5 if it matters) on Windows and Apache is the same as writing PHP on another OS and Apache? I do not mean things like file paths. Thank you.

Answer 1

Mostly, but you have a few things to watch out:

• Under *nix systems path names are case-sensitive, not under Windows.
• Under *nix systems, the path separator is /. Under Windows it is \, but PHP translates / automatically. Either use the DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR constant or always use /.
• Under *nix systems, the path traversal schema is different. There is no such thing as a drive letter. There are mount points instead.
• Under *nix systems, file permissions are more strict than on Windows by default.
• Some functions are not available under Windows or behave differently. These are mostly for low-level functions (memory status, system status). Refer to the PHP documentation.
• If you are using exec() or any other similar function, the commands won't be the same. Refer to your system documentation.

About Apache:

You might hit some snags at some point in one server uses PHP as a module and the other one uses it via fcgi. Two Apache configured the same way will behave the same way.