Installation of PHP on a web server

Ok, this is probably a 'noob' question but after a while on google I'm going to ask. Currently I am working on a site that has no php (an older site i am revamping for a friend) thus all the php code shows up on the page through the browser. Usually the sites I have worked on the past have php, and all that jazz, already installed but if not i would have to contact the hosting company to get them but that sometimes involve me paying. I have never installed Php to a server myself and what I've found are tutorials on installing Php to the computer rather than the web server itself. So, my question is can I install php on a hosted web server or am I going to have to directly contact the hosting company for this?

You need access to the server directly, if the hosting company is asking you to pay for it, then

your not going to have the relevant access

Lots of hosting companies don't charge extra for php, find another hosting company !

I would contact the host. I don't see why they wouldn't install PHP. It's a pretty standard web language. Maybe it's installed but the server isn't configured right? Depending on the platform you have to set it up a little differently. I've installed it on both Linux and Windows servers. It's very easy on Linux, but a little more involved on Windows (but there are plenty of tutorials on the web to do this).

Point is, contact the host and ask. Chances are they will do it with no problems and no charge.

the php code shows up on the page

Any chance you are using short opening php tags <? and not full php tags <?php

That also could mean you're loading the actual file, rather than letting the web-server serve the page (localhost).

Thanks for the replys. Looks like I'm am going to have to contact the hosting company for this one. Just wanted to see if there was any way to install PHP on remote servers but guess not. No biggie, again thanks guys.