why is a .txt file being run as a php script?

[Gordon Messmer]

On 10/08/2012 07:36 PM, David G. Miller wrote:
> Just guessing but what is the first line of the file?  It's probably:
>
> <?php
>
> Apache reads the file, hits the <?php line and processes it as a php file.  It's
> a feature.  *nix (not just Linux) don't use the file extension to determine what
> to do with a file.

That is also wrong.  Apache uses the AddHandler directive and file 
extensions to decide whether or not a handler should process a file. 
The php will only process files that have .php as one of their 
extensions in the default configuration.  Thus, you can have a file 
named "sample.txt" which started with "<?php", and it will be served as 
unmodifed text.