php - What does "x-powered by" mean?

Question

I'm just curious to know what "x-powered by" means when we try to find the Web Server Information about some website.

What I'm trying:

Actually I'm trying to find out what technologies different websites are using. But the confusion is created when "Web Server Information" for one particular website is showing x-powered-by: ZendServer 8.5.0,ASP.NET which is showing ZendServer that is for php and ASP.NET that is opposite(technology) to php. The bad question that comes in my mind after seeing this information of x-powered-by is "Are they using both at a time?"

question from:https://stackoverflow.com/questions/33580671/what-does-x-powered-by-mean

Answer 1

"X-Powered-By" is a common non-standard HTTP response header (most headers prefixed with an 'X-' are non-standard). It's often included by default in responses constructed via a particular scripting technology.

It's important to note that it it can be disabled and/or manipulated by the server. Some servers chose not to include it or even to provide misleading information to throw off hackers that might target a particular technology/version.

If I wanted to send out that response header in a PHP script it's as simple as including the following code:

header('x-powered-by: ZendServer 8.5.0,ASP.NET');

It cannot necessarily be trusted. The server in question could very well be using some combination of technologies you mentioned, or perhaps neither. It can be a helpful start, but there is no way to definitively tell what scripting software is being used on a server simply from an HTTP response.