Using PHP from the command line

This guide is intended for PHP programmers. I found a number of Linux users asked why don't you do it in Linux shell?
Well, there are many possible answers:

• Not many people familiar with Linux shell scripting
• Don't want to learn another language
• PHP have a lot of libraries
• Who knows?

Requirements:

• Unix/Linux like Operating System.
• You must have php-cli.

This is how you install php-cli:

• Ubuntu: apt-get install php5-cli
• Centos: yum install php-cli
• FreeBSD assuming that you have ports tree installed:
  # cd /usr/ports/lang/php5-cli
  # make config
  # make install

There are two ways you can run the PHP scripts:

1. At command line: php your_scripts.php $arg1 $arg2 ...
2. At the very first line of your php scripts insert this line if you are using Ubuntu, no space:
   #!/usr/bin/php5
   <?php
   If you are using other OS, replace /usr/bin/php5 with your PHP executable file. Execute your script:
   ./path/to/your_scripts.php $arg1 $arg2 ...

Let's go for a test drive.
Insert the following lines into a test file:

cat > test.php

Paste from command line (ctrl+shift+v):

#!/usr/bin/php5
<?php

foreach($argv as $key => $value){
    echo "\n" . $key . ": " . $value;

}

done with ctrl+c.

Now, you can execute the test.php file using any of the methods above.

1. php test.php param1 param2
2. ./test.php param1 param2
   Note: In order to use this method, you must have executable permission on your php script file:
   chmod 0755 test.php.

Expected Output:

0: test.php
1: param1
2: param2

Remember, argument [0] is always your php script file.

Resources:

1. http://php.net/manual/en/features.commandline.php