How to link and display an "example.php"?

Question

I have created an example.php:

<?php  get_header();  
 get_template_part('template-parts/banner','title');  ?>

  <div class="container">
    <p>HERE GOES THE TEXT</p>   
  </div>

<?php get_footer(); ?>

in the page-main.php I have created a link: <a href="<?php echo site_url('/example.php'); ?></a>

When I click it I can see in (page.php/example-php) the header, the footer but NOT the html part. What am I doing wrong?

Please help and thank You for Your help.

After searching the net and reading, I figured that inserting this code:

  <?php while ( have_posts() ) : the_post(); ?>
  <?php the_content(); ?>
  <?php endwhile;
  ?>

made my day. Now I can display my page as a new separate page. So now all the code looks like this:

<?php  get_header();  
 get_template_part('template-parts/banner','title');  ?>

 <?php while ( have_posts() ) : the_post(); ?>
  <?php the_content(); ?>
  <?php endwhile;
 ?>

  <div class="container">
    <p>HERE GOES THE TEXT</p>   
  </div>

<?php get_footer(); ?>

But if You think that its wrong what I have done please let me know. I am learning so please forgive me for my lack of knowledge.

Answer 1

To expand on Tom's answer, you need to understand how templates are used by WordPress. They are the framework that 'builds' the page output. You use a template by creating a page, then selecting that template.

Start here to learn about templates https://codex.wordpress.org/Templates

Note that you should only create templates in your Child Theme. If you put it in an active (non-Child) theme, a theme update will remove your template. Always use Child Themes. There are many plugins that will quickly create a Child Theme, or you can learn about it here: https://developer.wordpress.org/themes/advanced-topics/child-themes/

Answer 2

Those are template files, you're not meant to access/visit/link to them directly, it's posts and pages that have URLs not PHP files.

Have a look at page templates, you'd be better creating a page, giving it a page template and linking to that page, not the PHP file.