The CLI version of PHP is quite similar to the CGI version, upon which it was
once based. The main difference lies in all the web server integration, which is
really what CGI is about. With CLI, PHP is trimmed down to the very basics,
and imports no GET or POST form variables, outputs no MIME headers in the
output, and generally does none of the behind-the-scenes that other SAPI
implementations do.
The CLI version of PHP behaves like any other script parser, such as Perl
or Python. The one remaining proof of PHP’s web heritage is the fact that you
still need to use the <?php ?> tags around code.
16.2.1.1 Default Parameters
CLI has different default values for a few
command-line options and php.ini settings, as shown in Table 16.1.
CLI DefaultDescription
Table 16.1 CLI Default Options
Setting/Option
CLI/Default
Description
-q option
Enabled
Suppresses HTTP
headers in output.
-C option
Enabled
PHP does not change its
working directory to that
of the main script.
html_errors
Disabled
Error messages from
PHP will be in plain text
rather than HTML.
implicit _flush
Enabled
register_argc_argv
Enabled
The $argc and $argv
global variables are
registered regardless
of the register_argc
_arg settings in php.ini.
max_execution_time
0
The longest time (in
seconds) PHP lets scripts
execute; 0 means no
limit.
16.2.1.2 Extra Options
There are some command-line options in PHP CLI
that CGI does not offer, as shown in Table 16.2.
Table 16.2 Extra CLI Options
Setting/Option
CLI Default
Description
-r code
None
Run code as PHP code
(no <?php necessary).
-R code
None
Run code as for every
line on stdin.
_B code
None
Run code before process-
ing lines with -R or -F.
-E code
None
Run code after process-
ing lines with -R or -F.
_F file
None
Execute file for every
input line.
These options can be used to quickly execute some PHP code from the
command line; for example:
$ php r ‘var_dump(urlencode(”æøå”));’
When using r, -R, -B, and -E, make sure that your PHP code is complete
with the final semicolon.