How to install php without Apache webserver?

Ubuntu package details says php (php7.2) depends on libapache2-mod-php7.2 OR php7.2-fpm OR php7.2-cgi.

It seems to default to the first package, which itself depends on apache2. But if you install one of the latter first, and php afterwards, apache2 will not be installed.

sudo apt install php-cgi
sudo apt install php

or manually put the resolved dependency:

sudo apt install php php7.2-cgi

Then you can run

php -S localhost:8000