[RESOLVED] what super-global will contain the command line arguments specified

sela

Hi Everyone!

I don't understand the question. The question is:
"When PHP is running on a command line, what super-global will contain the command line arguments specified?"
And the answer is $_SERVER. But why? Where's the catch?

I made some tests. In command line I wrote this:

user@user-n:~$ php -f /home/user/public.html.com/filename.php 1arg 2arg 3arg 4arg '5arg'

filename.php

var_dump($argv);
var_dump($GLOBALS["argv"]);
var_dump($_SERVER["argv"]);

All of the above give me the same output:

array(6) {
  [0] =>
  string(60) "/home/user/public.html.com/filename .php"
  [1] =>
  string(4) "1arg"
  [2] =>
  string(4) "2arg"
  [3] =>
  string(4) "3arg"
  [4] =>
  string(4) "4arg"
  [5] =>
  string(4) "5arg"
}

Please give me helpful hints.

Thanks in advance.

laserlight

$argv is not a superglobal, but both $GLOBALS and $_SERVER are. Hence, you have shown a second correct answer to the question.

sela

"Unlike all of the other superglobals, $GLOBALS has essentially always been available in PHP."

So what situations preclude the use of $SERVER and which allow only the use of $GLOBALS?
What makes $SERVER inaccessible?

bradgrafelman

sela;11029555 wrote:
So what situations preclude the use of $SERVER and which allow only the use of $GLOBALS?
What makes $SERVER inaccessible?

Well if $SERVER didn't exist, that would certainly preclude the use of it. However, since $SERVER has been around since PHP 4.1.0 (released on 10-Dec-2001), it's generally a safe assumption to depend upon its existence.

sela

Which one is better $GLOBALS["argv"] or $_SERVER["argv"]?

bradgrafelman

If your script will always be called from the CLI SAPI, then both are pretty much equivalent. However, since I personally avoid using both the [man]global[/man] keyword as well as the $GLOBALS array at all costs, my personal preference would be the latter.

laserlight

bradgrafelman wrote:
If your script will always be called from the CLI SAPI, then both are pretty much equivalent. However, since I personally avoid using both the [man]global[/man] keyword as well as the $GLOBALS array at all costs, my personal preference would be the latter.

Same here. It is better to use something specific as it also documents what you are doing better.

sela

Thank you for helping me.