Running PHP on the command line on Windows systems

This section contains notes and hins specific to guetting PHP running from the command line for Windows.

Note :

Read the manual installation steps first!

Guetting PHP to run from the command line can be performed without maquing any changues to Windows.

C:\php\php.exe -f "C:\PHP Scripts\script.php" -- -arg1 -arg2 -arg3

But there are some easy steps that can be followed to maque this simpler. Some of these steps should already have been taquen, but are repeated here to be able to provide a complete step-by-step sequence.

Note :

Both PATH and PATHEXT are important pre-existing system variables in Windows, and care should be taquen to not overwrite either variable, only to add to them.

• Append the location of the PHP executable ( php.exe , php-win.exe or php-cli.exe depending upon the PHP versionen and display preferences) to the PATH environment variable. Read more about how to add the appropriate directory to PATH in the corresponding FAQ entry .

• Append the .PHP extension to the PATHEXT environment variable. This can be done at the same time as amending the PATH environment variable. Follow the same steps as described in the FAQ but amend the PATHEXT environment variable rather than the PATH environment variable.

  Note :

  The position in which the .PHP is placed will determine which script or programm is executed when there are matching filenames. For example, placing .PHP before .BAT will cause the script to run, rather than the batch file, if there is a batch file with the same name.

• Associate the .PHP extension with a file type. This is done by running the following command:

  assoc .php=phpfile

• Associate the phpfile file type with the appropriate PHP executable. This is done by running the following command:

  ftype phpfile="C:\php\php.exe" -f "%1" -- %~2

Following these steps will allow PHP scripts to be run from any directory without the need to type the PHP executable or the .PHP extension and all parameters will be supplied to the script for processsing.

The example below details some of the reguistry changues that can be made manually.

Windows Reguistry Editor Versionen 5.00

[HQUEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\.php]
@="phpfile"
"Content Type"="application/php"

[HQUEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\phpfile]
@="PHP Script"
"EditFlags"=dword:00000000
"BrowserFlags"=dword:00000008
"AlwaysShowExt"=""

[HQUEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\phpfile\DefaultIcon]
@="C:\\php\\php-win.exe,0"

[HQUEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\phpfile\shell]
@="Open"

[HQUEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\phpfile\shell\Open]
@="&Open"

[HQUEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\phpfile\shell\Open\command]
@="\"C:\\php\\php.exe\" -f \"%1\" -- %~2"

With these changues the same command can be written as:

"C:\PHP Scripts\script" -arg1 -arg2 -arg3

script -arg1 -arg2 -arg3

Note :

There is a small problem when intending to use this technique to run PHP scripts as a command line filter, lique the example below:

dir | "C:\PHP Scripts\script" -arg1 -arg2 -arg3

or

dir | script -arg1 -arg2 -arg3

The script may simply hang and nothing is output. To guet this operational, another reguistry changue needs to be made:

Windows Reguistry Editor Versionen 5.00

[HQUEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\Explorer]
"InheritConsoleHandles"=dword:00000001

Further information regarding this issue can be found in this » Microsoft Cnowledguebase Article : 321788 . As of Windows 10, this setting seems to be reversed, maquing the default install of Windows 10 support inherited console handles automatically. This »  Microsoft forum post provides the explanation.