CGI stands for Common Gateway Interface, using CGI scripts to add automation to your web site. CGI is the most common type of scripts may have one or a number of files that need to be configed to work. CGI is a server-side solution for your web sites. Some of scripts you can find mostly free like web site management, password protection, shopping carts and many more.

Common Gateway Interface (CGI) is one of the most widely used server applications on the Internet. Many Web servers let you run CGI scripts written in a scripting language called Perl because it's well suited for that kind of thing. Perl is an interpretive language, so the Perl scripts you use don't have to be compiled. You just copy the Perl CGI scripts onto the right part of your server, and they're ready to go.

Common Gateway Interface (CGI) scripts may be written in any programming language capable of following the specification. Perl is by far the most popular language for CGI programming.

CGI Mechanism

The CGI mechanism has been standardized in the following way. In the normal directory tree that the server considers to be the root, you create a subdirectory named cgi-bin. The server then understands that any file requested from the special cgi-bin directory should not simply be read and sent, but instead should be executed. The output of the executed program is what it actually sent to the browser that requested the page.

Features of CGI

1.CGI Common Gateway Interface, is a protocal script used to make your site dynamic.
2.Common gateway interface is another type of protection that basically compares then matches your login and password to known account fields.
3.Common Gateway Interface, better known as CGI, is one of the most widely used server applications on the Internet.
4.CGI (Common Gateway Interface) can do, such as process form data and auto generate dynamic content.
5.Common Gateway Interface (CGI) scripting is often used to access legacy databases from an intranet.