PHP files are usually like HTML files but the PHP files can include both PHP

and HTML code.

The main difference is HTML is a tag language which is used to describe mainly the public part
of the website and PHP is a script language of higher level which actually allows creating scripts
which addresses user requests to the database.

The output of PHP is mostly in HTML code as when a user accesses a PHP page; the web
browser only sends HTML code, since the web server has processed the PHP code in the
background. So the web browser would get the same HTML code if it is set as the output of your
PHP script but advantages of some advanced features can be achieved that are offered by PHP.

PHP allows the coder to create an HTML page or section of the page dynamically. While when
coding is done in HTML the pages coded by you would always appear same depending on which
browser you are using. Moreover, PHP is also capable of taking data and use it or manipulate it
to create the output what user wants.

A web page that can actually take two numbers, add it and present the result to the user can be
easily done by PHP but this is not possible by HTML. To use .php extension is very important
while coding in PHP as it tells the web server that the page includes PHP code and so it may run
through the server’s PHP engine before sending to the client’s web browser.

PHP also allows generating dynamic content each time web page is loaded by the user like
current date and time, data from form fields by user or from a database, etc. Because of so many
additional features it needs to be implemented in a proper structure of coding unlike HTML
where kept anything anywhere creates an output. This will not be the case with PHP, as it will
not give you any output if something is wrong with coding. Also, learning time of PHP is longer
than HTML as it is more complex and sophisticated language comparatively.