php - PHP Command Line Interface 'CLI'

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

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 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 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.

--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

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.

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.

#!/bin/php <?php // your script ?>

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: 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 immediately.