PHP (more)

Server-side command-line

PHP runs on server.
Can access command-line to execute external programs on server-side. (e.g. Linux commands)

Accessing command-line

To find out if command-line is enabled

Find where your php.ini file is (use phpinfo)
See disabled functions:

disable_functions = exec,passthru,shell_exec,system,proc_open,popen,curl_exec,curl_multi_exec,parse_ini_file,show_so,pcntl_exec

Or run a PHP test:

// do these functions exist:
if ( function_exists ('exec')       ) echo " exec "; 
if ( function_exists ('passthru')   ) echo " passthru ";
if ( function_exists ('shell_exec') ) echo " shell_exec ";
if ( function_exists ('system')     ) echo " system ";

// show value of the setting "disable_functions":
$x = ini_get("disable_functions");
echo " $x ";

If command-line disabled

Even if your sysadmin has disabled the command line, a lot of command-line functionality can be done without leaving PHP.
Listing files, reading and writing files, searching files, and even wildcard matching:

glob - Do wildcard file and dir matching from PHP

Example

system ( "ls -l (dir)" );

Make HTTP requests

PHP runs on server. Can make HTTP requests to other sites. Request comes from server, not from client.

file_get_contents
HTTP extension
cURL extension
Could also access command line to do HTTP request with separate program.

Include other PHP page

PHP page can include another PHP page with include
e.g. Every page on website does:
```
 include "header.php"; 
```
See also SSI include.

Run PHP on command-line

Running PHP on the command-line. Stand-alone PHP scripts.
i.e. Not running it from a web page.
You can use PHP as a general purpose offline programming language (not on a web server).
Note this is a different concept to a PHP web page accessing the command-line.

Using PHP from the command line
Command line options

Make a program file.php like:

Whatever is outside PHP is just displayed.

<?php

 print "Name of script = $argv[0] \n"; 
 print "First command-line arg = $argv[1] \n"; 

 print "All command-line args: \n";
 print_r($argv); 
 print "\n"; 

?>

Whatever is outside PHP is just displayed.

Run it by typing:
```
 php file.php 
```