How to Open File Without .PHP

[cweaver]

I would like to be able to direct people to www.somesite.com/thisarea without the .php (www.somesite.com/thisarea.php). I've tried saving the file without the php extension but it looses its php functionality on my localhost and can't be found at all on my site host. Is there a way to do this or am I just dreaming?

[Findus]

If you use apache add this to your .htaccess file (or the whatever-named-file in sites-available/):

<FilesMatch "^[a-zA-Z0-9]*$">
    ForceType application/x-httpd-php
</FilesMatch>

That forces every file that matches the regex pattern provided to be of mimetype that php uses, and what apache uses to fire up the php engine.
This will force every file without an ending to be routed through the php parser, if that is not wanted simply use <Files thisarea> instead, for limiting it to that single file.

[Mittineague]

The easiest way would be to have a folder named "thisarea" and have the file be the "index.php".
Findus' suggestion will allow the server to parse files without the php extension as php files.
Or maybe you mean something more like a "friendly URL" scenario?
If so, this Sitepoint article should help http://www.sitepoint.com/article/sea...-friendly-urls