How to read command line parameters in PHP Shell Scripts

We can access parameters passed via the command line in our PHP shell scripts. Those are stored as an array in the variable $argv. Consider this:

echo var_dump($argv);
echo "\n";

if ($argv[1] == 'x') {
  echo "The parameter is x.";
} else {
  echo "The parameter was something else.";

The first part of the script prints out all parameters that have been given, while the second part checks if the parameter was “x” or not. Note that the first item in the array ($argv[0]) will be the the first item on the command line, i.e. the file name and path to this very script. $argv[1] is the first parameter, $argv[2] the second, and so forth.

We can call the script with

script.php x

to give it one parameter, or with

script.php x y z

to give it three parameters.


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