<P> In computing, Common Gateway Interface (CGI) offers a standard protocol for web servers to execute programs that execute like console applications (also called command - line interface programs) running on a server that generates web pages dynamically . Such programs are known as CGI scripts or simply as CGIs . The specifics of how the script is executed by the server are determined by the server . In the common case, a CGI script executes at the time a request is made and generates HTML . </P> <P> In brief, an HTTP POST request from the client will send the CGI program HTML form data via standard input . Other data, such as URL paths, and HTTP header data, are presented as process environment variables . </P>

What is common gateway interface (cgi)