Execution in Unix

mailkayzay

How do I execute a php script in unix from the command line?

bretticus

From the command line? From apache in a *NIX OS???

mailkayzay

I have no idea how to execute php scripts from the command line in unix. Can you help?

bretticus

Sure, are you using Linux? Any particular distro: Debian, Redhat, etc?

mailkayzay

I am working directly on a server running on unix. I connect to the server using putty. Does this answer the question?

bretticus

I am working directly on a server running on unix. I connect to the server using putty. Does this answer the question?

😉

no but it gives me a place to start. If you type:

 php --help

do you get something similar to:

Usage: php [options] [-f] <file> [args...]
       php [options] -r <code> [args...]
       php [options] [-- args...]
  -a               Run interactively
  -c <path>|<file> Look for php.ini file in this directory
  -n               No php.ini file will be used
  -d foo[=bar]     Define INI entry foo with value 'bar'
  -e               Generate extended information for debugger/profiler
  -f <file>        Parse <file>.
  -h               This help
  -i               PHP information
  -l               Syntax check only (lint)
  -m               Show compiled in modules
  -r <code>        Run PHP <code> without using script tags <?..?>
  -s               Display colour syntax highlighted source.
  -v               Version number
  -w               Display source with stripped comments and whitespace.
  -z <file>        Load Zend extension <file>.

  args...          Arguments passed to script. Use -- args when first argument
                   starts with - or script is read from stdin

bretticus

BTW you'll notice from the afore-posted usage text, that to parse a file you use the -f switch.

$php -f /path/to/php/file

NogDog

If you add the following line to the very beginning of your PHP file and give the file execute permission ( [FONT=Courier New]chmod ugo+x filename.php[/FONT] ), you can then just call the file directly by it's path/name.

#!/usr/bin/php
<?php
// your script here.....
?>

Change the "/usr/bin/" value to wherever the PHP executable is installed if it's not in that directory.

mailkayzay

I got the code screenshot you sent when I typed php --help at the command line. So you do think this is what I need.

#!/usr/bin/php
<?php
// your script here.....
?>

bretticus

I got the code screenshot you sent when I typed php --help at the command line. So you do think this is what I need.

that just tells us your server has the executable installed and not just the Apache module. That was the test of whether you could run php from the command prompt.

As NogDog posts, you can execute a php directly from the command prompt just like any other unix executable. Again, you specify the script interpereter; in the case: #!/usr/bin/php. You can do a

$which php

to make sure that is indeed the correct path. Then you use

$chmod +x /path/to/script

as NogDog mentions to make it executable. From there you woudl simply type

$/path/to/script

at the command prompt. Please note, if you are just testing a php script that was built to run in a Web page, you don't want to do this. In this case, just do

$php -f /path/to/script

where /path/to/script is the actual path and file of the PHP script to parse.

mailkayzay

Have you seen this book Beginning PHP, Apache, MySQL Web Development
by Michael K. Glass et al. Say I want to execute one of the example programs, how do I go about it working in a unix environment. Also some of the scripts will run in a web application.

bretticus

mailkayzay wrote:
Have you seen this book Beginning PHP, Apache, MySQL Web Development
by Michael K. Glass et al. Say I want to execute one of the example programs, how do I go about it working in a unix environment. Also some of the scripts will run in a web application.

With that title, I would think the majority of the example scripts were for webpages. You need to find out where your web root is , pop the samples in there, and surf there in your browser (typical scenario.)