How to enable and disable the expose_php directive

This article describes how to enable and disable the expose_php directive in a custom php.ini file.

The information in this article only applies to certain types of hosting accounts. To determine whether or not the information below applies to your account, please see this article.

This article assumes that you have already set up a custom php.ini file on your web site. If you have not already set up a custom php.ini file, please read this article first.

Using the expose_php directive

When the expose_php directive is enabled, PHP includes the following line in the HTTP response header when a PHP page is requested (the exact version number may differ depending on your configuration):

X-Powered-By: PHP/5.3.27

By default, the expose_php directive is enabled. However, you may not want to broadcast the specific PHP version your site is using. Similarly, some third-party applications require the expose_php directive to be disabled.

To disable the expose_php directive, use a text editor to modify your php.ini file as follows :

expose_php = off

With the expose_php directive disabled, PHP will not send the X-Powered-By header. To re-enable the expose_php directive and send the X-Powered-By header, modify your php.ini file as follows:

expose_php = on
To verify the current value of the expose_php directive and other directives, you can use the phpinfo() function. For more information, please see this article.

More Information

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