Server Side Includes (SSI)

A Server Side Include (SSI) is a special type of command that enables CGI-BIN scripts (or other programs) to be run from within the HTML code of a Web page. These commands differ from CGI-BIN in that they do not accept input from the Web (i.e. they are run based on the action of the Web page itself being requested and served to a visitor's Web browser). These commands are most often used to insert real-time clocks, date, counters, or specific information about the Web page visitor (such as their IP address or Web browser type).

A typical SSI (in this example, a text-based Web counter) would appear as the following in HTML:

#exec cgi="/cgi-bin/counter-program.pl"

This particular SSI would place the output of the counter program to the location of the command in your Web page.

You could add text before and after any SSI to show a more customized look and feel:

This page has been accessed #exec cgi="/cgi-bin/counter-program.pl" times. 

Would display the following in your Web browser:

This page has been accessed 300 times.

Make sure the HTML file has a .shtml extension. This is required for proper SSI processing.

For more information regarding using SSI's, visit: http://hoohoo.ncsa.uiuc.edu/docs/tutorials/includes.html