The book is devoted to the professional use of the PHP 5 language - the most popular, very powerful, effective and relatively easy to learn Web programming language. It covers a wide range of topics related to the development of Web applications of any purpose and the level of complexity. Here, the reader will find everything you need to start working with PHP, and for its further use - starting from the basics of the language and installing its software environment and ending with the means of working with XML, Web-srvis and database management systems .. The authors used a purely practical approach: all topics are considered on numerous concise examples and are provided with links to additional materials that can be useful to the reader. To start working with the book, the reader needs only a minimum level of knowledge in the creation of Web pages: familiarity with the HTML language and the ability to work with the browser. However, since the book is initially focused on the special features of PHP 5, it will be useful not only for beginners, but also for those developers who decided to switch from the fourth version of the language to the fifth.