php.ini

[gweisbrodt]

I have been trying to learn PHP and MySql. Several packages osCommerce ect. ask that the register_globals = or on off.
Is it possible to have it both ways?
As I understand it there is only one php.ini file.
Can more than one copy of php be running at a time?

[devinemke]

you can have mulitple php.ini's but only one can be used per page request. for example: 2 different directories with different php.ini's.

some php settings can be set at runtime using the [man]ini_set[/man] function, however as a practical matter, register_globals is not one of them. there are various ways to mimic register_globals ON using the [man]extract[/man] function. if you are just starting to learn PHP now then you should definitely try and write all of your own scripts for register_globals OFF.