php
PHP(1) Scripting Language PHP(1)
NAME
php - PHP Command Line Interface ’CLI’
SYNOPSIS
php [options] [ -f ] file [[--] args...]
php [options] -r code [[--] args...]
php [options] [-B code] -R code [-E code] [[--] args...]
php [options] [-B code] -F file [-E code] [[--] args...]
php [options] -- [ args...]
php [options] -a
DESCRIPTION
PHP is a widely-used general-purpose scripting language that is espe-
cially suited for Web development and can be embedded into HTML. This
is the command line interface that enables you to do the following:
You can parse and execute files by using parameter -f followed by the
name of the file to be executed.
Using parameter -r you can directly execute PHP code simply as you
would do inside a .php file when using the eval() function.
It is also possible to process the standard input line by line using
either the parameter -R or -F. In this mode each separate input line
causes the code specified by -R or the file specified by -F to be exe-
cuted. You can access the input line by $argn. While processing the
input lines $argi contains the number of the actual line being pro-
cessed. Further more the paramters -B and -E can be used to execute
code (see -r) before and after all input lines have been processed
respectively. Notice that the input is read from STDIN and therefore
reading from STDIN explicitly changes the next input line or skips
input lines.
If none of -r -f -B -R -F or -E is present but a single parameter is
given then this parameter is taken as the filename to parse and exe-
cute (same as with -f). If no parameter is present then the standard
input is read and executed.
OPTIONS
--interactive
-a Run PHP interactively. This lets you enter snippets of
PHP code that directly get executed. When readline sup-
port is enabled you can edit the lines and also have
history support.
--php-ini path|file
-c path|file Look for php.ini file in the directory path or use the
specified file
--no-php-ini
-n No php.ini file will be used
--define foo[=bar]
-d foo[=bar] Define INI entry foo with value bar
-e Generate extended information for debugger/profiler
--file file
-f file Parse and execute file
--global name
-g name Make variable name global in script.
--help
-h This help
--hide-args
-H Hide script name (file) and parameters (args...) from
external tools. For example you may want to use this
when a php script is started as a daemon and the com-
mand line contains sensitive data such as passwords.
--info
-i PHP information and configuration
--syntax-check
-l Syntax check only (lint)
--modules
-m Show compiled in modules
--run code
-r code Run PHP code without using script tags ’<?..?>’
--process-begin code
-B code Run PHP code before processing input lines
--process-code code
-R code Run PHP code for every input line
--process-file file
-F file Parse and execute file for every input line
--process-end code
-E code Run PHP code after processing all input lines
--syntax-highlight
-s Display colour syntax highlighted source
--version
-v Version number
--stripped
-w Display source with stripped comments and whitespace
--zend-extension file
-z file Load Zend extension file
args... Arguments passed to script. Use ’--’ args when first
argument starts with ’-’ or script is read from stdin
--rfunction name
--rf name Shows information about function name
--rclass name
--rc name Shows information about class name
--rextension name
--re name Shows information about extension name
--rextinfo name
--ri name Shows configuration for extension name
FILES
php-cli.ini The configuration file for the CLI version of PHP.
php.ini The standard configuration file will only be used when
php-cli.ini cannot be found.
EXAMPLES
php -r ’echo "Hello World\n";’
This command simply writes the text "Hello World" to standard
out.
php -r ’print_r(gd_info());’
This shows the configuration of your gd extension. You can use
this to easily check which image formats you can use. If you have
any dynamic modules you may want to use the same ini file that
php uses when executed from your webserver. There are more exten-
sions which have such a function. For dba use:
php -r ’print_r(dba_handlers(1));’
php -R ’echo strip_tags($argn)."\n";’
This PHP command strips off the HTML tags line by line and out-
puts the result. To see how it works you can first look at the
following PHP command ´php -d html_errors=1 -i´ which uses PHP to
output HTML formatted configuration information. If you then com-
bine those two ´php ...|php ...´ you’ll see what happens.
php -E ’echo "Lines: $argi\n";’
Using this PHP command you can count the lines being input.
php -R ’@$l+=count(file($argn));’ -E ’echo "Lines:$l\n";’
In this example PHP expects each input line beeing a file. It
counts all lines of the files specified by each input line and
shows the summarized result. You may combine this with tools
like find and change the php scriptlet.
php -R ’echo "$argn\n"; fgets(STDIN);’
Since you have access to STDIN from within -B -R -F and -E you
can skip certain input lines with your code. But note that in
such cases $argi only counts the lines being processed by php
itself. Having read this you will guess what the above program
does: skipping every second input line.
TIPS
You can use a shebang line to automatically invoke php from scripts.
Only the CLI version of PHP will ignore such a first line as shown
below:
#!/bin/php
<?php
// your script
?>
SEE ALSO
For a more or less complete description of PHP look here:
http://www.php.net/manual/
A nice introduction to PHP by Stig Bakken can be found here:
http://www.zend.com/zend/art/intro.php
BUGS
You can view the list of known bugs or report any new bug you found
at:
http://bugs.php.net
AUTHORS
The PHP Group: Thies C. Arntzen, Stig Bakken, Andi Gutmans, Rasmus
Lerdorf, Sam Ruby, Sascha Schumann, Zeev Suraski, Jim Winstead, Andrei
Zmievski.
Additional work for the CLI sapi was done by Edin Kadribasic, Marcus
Boerger and Johannes Schlueter.
A List of active developers can be found here:
http://www.php.net/credits.php
And last but not least PHP was developed with the help of a huge
amount of contributors all around the world.
VERSION INFORMATION
This manpage describes php, version 5.2.4.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright © 1997-2007 The PHP Group
This source file is subject to version 3.01 of the PHP license, that
is bundled with this package in the file LICENSE, and is available
through the world-wide-web at the following url:
http://www.php.net/license/3_01.txt
If you did not receive a copy of the PHP license and are unable to
obtain it through the world-wide-web, please send a note to
license@php.net so we can mail you a copy immediately.
The PHP Group 2007 PHP(1)
