On one of my web sites, I am using PHP as the server-side language to connect to a MySql database. In order to connect to the database, you need to build a connection string that has a user id and password. At first, I was really concerned that somebody would be able to just view the source of my PHP files and get my database user id and password. I did some research and everybody says that it is impossible for somebody to see the PHP source code on a website. Just to be safe, I used the FTP File Manager on my GoDaddy hosting to change the permissions of my PHP files to be execute only. So, the answer to the question is ‘NO’, the source code of PHP files on a web site cannot be seen by web site users.