I'm a newbie on this topic, so my apologies if I do this kind of questions.

Basically my question is if PHP and MySQL must be used together? I want to learn php to start coding my websites with it, but is it really needed to learn MySQL to use PHP too?

Please explain this to me, I'm really confused

Not at all. I started learning php using it as a standalone tool, I used it only for include functions and setting page variables to co-ordinate display data (eg. this page='a' and then would add if this page == a display x etc.)

Simple things. But mySQL really enriches the potential of PHP. However with mySQL you just have to learn about databases and how to make queries, it's not too difficult.

The issue is not whether PHP should be used with MySQL. Rather it is what you need to get done.

If you want to create a standard website to create a 'presence', you only need html with some images. There's no talk about anything like PHP and MySQL.

On the other hand, if you need to build a serious web application, like a sales site, job site, ad site, etc., yes, these tools should be your first choice.

First let us know what they are:
PHP: It is a server-side scripting language, that is used to do some sort of processing and send them out to the client (your local web browser). So all php programs run on the web-server and you only see the results of it on the browser.

MySQL: One of the worlds most popular and powerful database servers. It acts as a central data store. It could be data about anything - employees, products for sale, weather info, currency info, mailing list, etc. This software must also run on a web-server.

This typically means that your web-hosting server MUST support both of them. And it is common to find APACHE servers with them.

PHP is a language, just like VB, C and Pascal are languages. You should therefore take time and learn it well.

If you are a Windows user, you can obtain WAMP5 Server to run on XP. This allows you to develop, test and launch PHP+MySQL applications without an actual host.

If on the other hand you like a Linux flavour, I'd advice Ubuntu - it's free.

Happy coding.
itsols (Khalid)