Why switch between PHP versions when you canuse multiple PHP versionssimultaneously via asingle xampp installation?

With a xampp installation you have 2 options:

1. Run older PHP versions only against the old project's directory:This will do the trick in most cases. You may have an old project or two that you intend to run with an older PHP version. Just configure xampp to run older PHP versions only against these project directories.

2. Running an older PHP version on a separate port of xampp:Sometimes you may upgrade an old project to the latest PHP version and need to run the same project on a new PHP version and Switch back and forth between older PHP versions. To do this, you can set up an older PHP version on a different port (e.g. 8056), so that when you visithttp://localhost/any_project/, xampp runs PHP 7, and when you visit>http://localhost:8056/any_project/xampp runs PHP 5.6.

3. Run older PHP versions on a virtual host:You can create a virtual host (e.g. localhost56) to run PHP 5.6 while you use PHP 7 on localhost.

Let’s set it up

Step 1:Download PHP

So you are running PHP 7 under xampp and you want to add an older PHP version to it (e.g. PHP 5.6). Download the nts (non-thread-safe) version of PHP zip archive fromphp.net(seeArchives of older versions) and extract the files underc:\xampp\php56. The thread-safe version does not include php-cgi.exe.

Step 2:Configurationphp.ini

Open the filec:\xampp\php56\php.iniin Notepad. If the file does not exist, copyphp.ini-developmenttophp.iniand open it with Notepad. Then uncomment the following lines:

extension_dir = "ext"

Additionally, if the following line exists in the Apache configurationhttpd-xampp.conf

SetEnv PHPRC "\path\to\xampp\php"

Comment it out using a leading # (pound character).

Step 3:Configure apache

Open the xampp control panel, click the configuration button of apache, and then clickApache (httpd-xampp.conf). A text file will open. Place the following settings at the bottom of the file:

ScriptAlias /php56 "C:/xampp/php56" Action application/x-httpd-php56-cgi /php56/php-cgi.exe
           
            AllowOverride None Options None Require all denied
            
             Require all granted
            
           

NOTE:You can follow steps 1 to 3 to add more versions of PHP to your xampp installation if needed.

Step 4 (Option 1):[Add directory to run specific PHP version]

Now you can set the directory that will run in PHP 5.6. Simply add the following to the bottom of the configuration file (httpd-xampp.confin step 3) to set up the directory.

           
            
             SetHandler application/x-httpd-php56-cgi
            
           
           
            
             SetHandler application/x-httpd-php56-cgi
            
           

Step 4 (Option 2):[Run an older PHP version on a separate port]

Now to set up PHP v5.6 on port 8056, add the following code to the bottom of the configuration file (httpd-xampp.confin step 3).

Listen 8056
           
            
             SetHandler application/x-httpd-php56-cgi
            
           

Step 4 (Option 3):[Run an older PHP version on a virtual host]

To create a virtual host (localhost56) on the directory (htdocs56) to use PHP v5.6 on http://localhost56, create the directory htdocs56 in the desired location and Add localhost56 to your hosts file (See how-to), Then add the following code to the bottom of the configuration file (httpd-xampp.confin step 3).

           
            DocumentRoot "C:\xampp\htdocs56" ServerName localhost56
            
             Require all granted
            
            
             SetHandler application/x-httpd-php56-cgi
            
           

Complete:Save and restart Apache

Save and close the configuration file. Restart apache from xampp control panel. If you choose option 2, you can see the additional port (8056) listed in the xampp control panel.

For more information, check out this thread:Is there a way to use two PHP versions with XAMPP?