Run PHP interactively. For more information, see
the Interactive shell section.

Bind Path for external FASTCGI Server mode
(CGI only).

Do not chdir to the script’s directory
(CGI only).

Quiet-mode. Suppress HTTP header output
(CGI only).

Measure execution time of script repeated
count times
(CGI only).

Specifies either a directory in which to look for
php.ini, or a custom INI file
(which does not need to be named php.ini), e.g.:

$ php -c /custom/directory/ my_script.php

$ php -c /custom/directory/custom-file.ini my_script.php

If this option is not specified, php.ini is searched for in the default locations.

Ignore php.ini
completely.

Set a custom value for any of the configuration
directives allowed in php.ini. The
syntax is:

 -d configuration_directive[=value]
 

# Omitting the value part will set the given configuration directive to "1"
$ php -d max_execution_time
        -r '$foo = ini_get("max_execution_time"); var_dump($foo);'
string(1) "1"

# Passing an empty value part will set the configuration directive to ""
php -d max_execution_time=
        -r '$foo = ini_get("max_execution_time"); var_dump($foo);'
string(0) ""

# The configuration directive will be set to anything passed after the '=' character
$  php -d max_execution_time=20
        -r '$foo = ini_get("max_execution_time"); var_dump($foo);'
string(2) "20"
$  php
        -d max_execution_time=doesntmakesense
        -r '$foo = ini_get("max_execution_time"); var_dump($foo);'
string(15) "doesntmakesense"

Activate the extended information mode, to be used
by a debugger/profiler.

Parse and execute the specified file. The
-f is optional and may be
omitted – providing just the filename to execute is sufficient.

Note:

To pass arguments to a script, the first argument
must be —, otherwise PHP will interpret them as PHP
options.

Provides a convenient way to perform only a syntax
check on the given PHP code. On success, the text No syntax
errors detected in <filename> is written to standard
output and the shell return code is 0. On failure, the
text Errors parsing <filename> in addition to the
internal parser error message is written to standard output and the
shell return code is set to -1.

This option won’t find fatal errors (like undefined
functions). Use the -f to
test for fatal errors too.

Note:

This option does not work together with the
-r option.

Allows execution of PHP included directly on the
command line. The PHP start and end tags (<?php and
?>) are not needed and will
cause a parse error if present.

Note:

Care must be taken when using this form of PHP not
to collide with command line variable substitution done by the
shell.

Example #2 Getting a syntax error when using double
quotes

$ php -r "$foo = get_defined_constants();"
PHP Parse error:  syntax error, unexpected '=' in Command line code on line 1

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected '=' in Command line code on line 1

The problem here is that sh/bash performs variable
substitution even when using double quotes “. Since the
variable $foo
is unlikely to be defined, it expands to nothing which results in
the code passed to PHP for execution actually reading:

$ php -r " = get_defined_constants();"

The correct way would be to use single quotes
‘. Variables in single-quoted strings are not expanded by
sh/bash.

Example #3 Using single quotes to prevent the shell’s
variable substitution

$ php -r '$foo = get_defined_constants(); var_dump($foo);'
array(370) {
  ["E_ERROR"]=>
  int(1)
  ["E_WARNING"]=>
  int(2)
  ["E_PARSE"]=>
  int(4)
  ["E_NOTICE"]=>
  int(8)
  ["E_CORE_ERROR"]=>
  [...]

If using a shell other than sh/bash, further issues
might be experienced – if appropriate, a bug report should be
opened at » https://bugs.php.net/. It is still
easy to run into trouble when trying to use variables (shell or
PHP) in commnad-line code, or using backslashes for escaping, so
take great care when doing so. You have been warned!

Note:

-r is
available in the CLI SAPI, but not
in the CGI SAPI.

Note:

This option is only intended for very basic code,
so some configuration directives (such as auto_prepend_file and auto_append_file) are ignored in this mode.

PHP code to execute before processing stdin. Added
in PHP 5.

PHP code to execute for every input line. Added in
PHP 5.

There are two special variables available in this
mode: $argn
and $argi.
$argn will
contain the line PHP is processing at that moment, while
$argi will
contain the line number.

PHP file to execute for every input line. Added in
PHP 5.

PHP code to execute after processing the input.
Added in PHP 5.

$ find my_proj | php -B '$l=0;' -R '$l += count(@file($argn));' -E 'echo "Total Lines: $l\n";'
Total Lines: 37328

Starts built-in web
server. Available as of PHP 5.4.0.

Display colour syntax highlighted source.

This option uses the internal mechanism to parse
the file and writes an HTML highlighted version of it to standard
output. Note that all it does is generate a block of
<code> […] </code> HTML tags, no HTML
headers.

Note:

This option does not work together with the
-r option.

Display source with comments and whitespace
stripped.

Note:

This option does not work together with the
-r option.

Load Zend extension. If only a filename is given,
PHP tries to load this extension from the current default library
path on your system (usually /etc/ld.so.conf on Linux systems, for example).
Passing a filename with an absolute path will not use the system’s
library search path. A relative filename including directory
information will tell PHP to try loading the extension relative to
the current directory.

Show configuration file names and scanned
directories. Available as of PHP 5.2.3.

$ php --ini
Configuration File (php.ini) Path: /usr/dev/php/5.2/lib
Loaded Configuration File:         /usr/dev/php/5.2/lib/php.ini
Scan for additional .ini files in: (none)
Additional .ini files parsed:      (none)

Show information about the given function or class
method (e.g. number and name of the parameters). Available as of
PHP 5.1.2.

This option is only available if PHP was compiled
with Reflection
support.

$ php --rf var_dump
Function [ <internal> public function var_dump ] {

  - Parameters [2] {
    Parameter #0 [ <required> $var ]
    Parameter #1 [ <optional> $... ]
  }
}

Show information about the given class (list of
constants, properties and methods). Available as of PHP 5.1.2.

This option is only available if PHP was compiled
with Reflection
support.

$ php --rc Directory
Class [ <internal:standard> class Directory ] {

  - Constants [0] {
  }

  - Static properties [0] {
  }

  - Static methods [0] {
  }

  - Properties [0] {
  }

  - Methods [3] {
    Method [ <internal> public method close ] {
    }

    Method [ <internal> public method rewind ] {
    }

    Method [ <internal> public method read ] {
    }
  }
}

Show information about the given extension (list of
php.ini options, defined functions,
constants and classes). Available as of PHP 5.1.2.

This option is only available if PHP was compiled
with Reflection
support.

$ php --re json
Extension [ <persistent> extension #19 json version 1.2.1 ] {

  - Functions {
    Function [ <internal> function json_encode ] {
    }
    Function [ <internal> function json_decode ] {
    }
  }
}

Show the configuration information for the given
Zend extension (the same information that is returned by
phpinfo()). Available as of PHP 5.4.0.

Show the configuration information for the given
extension (the same information that is returned by phpinfo()). Available as of PHP 5.2.2. The
core configuration information is available using “main” as
extension name.

$ php --ri date

date

date/time support => enabled
"Olson" Timezone Database Version => 2009.20
Timezone Database => internal
Default timezone => Europe/Oslo

Directive => Local Value => Master Value
date.timezone => Europe/Oslo => Europe/Oslo
date.default_latitude => 59.930972 => 59.930972
date.default_longitude => 10.776699 => 10.776699
date.sunset_zenith => 90.583333 => 90.583333
date.sunrise_zenith => 90.583333 => 90.583333