Executing PHP script from command-line

Question

It has been a while since I did any scripting with php. Now that I'm back at it, I find I'm missing something simple. Currently, the only way I am able to run my scripts is with the php command in front of them:

> php script.php

What do I need to do to enable running them directly? For reference, I am on kubuntu 10.0.4, and the php executable is located in /usr/bin/

Answer 1

PHP is most often interpreted (it can be compiled but that's often more work than it's worth). So the way your running PHP is the best and most straight forward way to run PHP via commandline. If you really dislike including php every time your can include #!/usr/bin/php at the beginning of the file and then run them directly. Before you can run them make sure to set the execute flag > chmod +x helloworld.php.

#!/usr/bin/php
<?php
echo "hello world";
?>

> helloworld.php