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 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 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 executed. You can access the input line by $argn. While pro-
cessing the input lines $argi contains the number of the actual line being processed. Fur-
ther 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 execute (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 support 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 command 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
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:
#!/bin/php
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 5.2.6.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (C) 1997-2008 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 so we can mail you a copy immedi-
ately.
The PHP Group 2008 PHP(1)
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