render PHP files

PHP files will not be loaded properly and will show echo and the <? ?> symbols if they do not run through an Apache server beforehand. If you are using something like Xampp which is all in one then you'll need to put your php files in the htdocs folder. Then, they can be run and processed when accessed using this url: localhost/filename.php
You might also need to add a folder name if you put the file in a folder within htdocs.