NAME
php - PHP Command Line Interface 'CLI'
SYNOPSIS
php
[options] [
-f ]
R file
[[--]
R args... ]
php
[options]
-r
R code
[[--]
R args... ]
php
[options] [-B
R code ]
-R
R code
[-E
R code ]
[[--]
R args... ]
php
[options] [-B
R code ]
-F
R file
[-E
R code ]
[[--]
R args... ]
php
[options] -- [
R args... ]
php [options] -a
DESCRIPTION
PHP is a widely-used general-purpose scripting language that is especially 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
R file
to be executed.
Using parameter -r you can directly execute PHP
R 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
R code
specified by -R or the
R file
specified by -F to be executed.
You can access the input line by $argn. While processing the input lines
$argi
contains the number of the actual line being processed. Further more
the paramters -B and -E can be used to execute
R 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 execute (same as
with -f). If no parameter is present then the standard input is read and
executed.
OPTIONS
-a
Run PHP interactively. This lets you enter snippets of PHP code that directly
get executed. When readline support is enabled you can edit the lines and also
have history support.
-c path|file
Look for
php.ini
file in the directory
R path
or use the specified
R file
-n
No
php.ini
file will be used
-d foo[=bar]
Define INI entry
R foo
with value
R bar
-e
Generate extended information for debugger/profiler
-f file
Parse and execute
R file
-g name
Make variable
R name
global in script.
-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 command line contains sensitive data such as passwords.
-i
PHP information and configuration
-l
Syntax check only (lint)
-m
Show compiled in modules
-r code
Run PHP
R code
without using script tags
'<?..?>'
-B code
Run PHP
R code
before processing input lines
-R code
Run PHP
R code
for every input line
-F file
Parse and execute
R file
for every input line
-E code
Run PHP
R code
after processing all input lines
-s
Display colour syntax highlighted source
-w
Display source with stripped comments and whitespace
-z file
Load Zend extension
R file
R args...
Arguments passed to script. Use
'--'
R args
when first argument starts with
'-'
or script is read from stdin
--rf
R name
Shows information about function
name
--rc
R name
Shows information about class
name
--re
R name
Shows information about extension
name
--ri
R name
Shows configuration for extension
name
FILES
/etc/php5/cli/php.ini
The configuration file for the CLI version of PHP.
/etc/php5/cgi/php.ini
The configuration file for the CGI version of PHP.
/etc/php5/apache2/php.ini
The configuration file for the version of PHP that apache2 uses.
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 extensions 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 outputs 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 combine 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:
<?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 5.2.3-1ubuntu6.
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.
