im working on win xp with apache 2.0.55 ,php4
when i run the code
<html>
<head></head>
<body>
abcdefrr<br />
<?php
// print output
echo 'php code';
?>
</body>
</html>
i get output on browser
abcdefrr
Of course, you would get this (abcdefrr) output on your browser because it is written in the body of your HTML code. Delete and you will not find it anymore. And, you should get these output on your browser:
abcdefrr // HTML output
php code //This is your php code output
If you will not get or display "php code" on your browser. Definitely, you have problem in your apache 2.0.55 server. Why don't you use IIS server (it is included in windows XP) and install PHP in it.
Good luck!