Letting Lighttpd spawn php processes

To configure Lighttpd to connect to php and spawn fastcgi processes, edit lighttpd.conf. Sockets are preferred to connect to fastcgi processes on the local system.

server.modules += ( "mod_fastcgi" )

fastcgi.server = ( ".php" =>
  ((
    "socket" => "/tmp/php.socket",
    "bin-path" => "/usr/local/bin/php-cgi",
    "bin-environment" => (
      "PHP_FCGI_CHILDREN" => "16",
      "PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS" => "10000"
    ),
    "min-procs" => 1,
    "max-procs" => 1,
    "idle-timeout" => 20
  ))
)

The bin-path directive allows lighttpd to spawn fastcgi processes dynamically. PHP will spawn children according to the PHP_FCGI_CHILDREN environment variable. The "bin-environment" directive sets the environment for the spawned processes. PHP will kill a child process after the number of requests specified by PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS is reached. The directives "min-procs" and "max-procs" should generally be avoided with PHP. PHP manages its own children and opcode caches like APC will only share among children managed by PHP. If "min-procs" is set to something greater than 1, the total number of php responders will be multiplied PHP_FCGI_CHILDREN (2 min-procs * 16 children gives 32 responders).

Spawning with spawn-fcgi

Lighttpd provides a program called spawn-fcgi to ease the process of spawning fastcgi processes easier.

Spawning php-cgi

It is possible to spawn processes without spawn-fcgi, though a bit of heavy-lifting is required. Setting the PHP_FCGI_CHILDREN environment var controls how many children PHP will spawn to handle incoming requests. Setting PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS will determine how long (in requests) each child will live. Here's a simple bash script to help spawn php responders.

#!/bin/sh

# Location of the php-cgi binary
PHP=/usr/local/bin/php-cgi

# PID File location
PHP_PID=/tmp/php.pid

# Binding to an address
#FCGI_BIND_ADDRESS=10.0.1.1:10000
# Binding to a domain socket
FCGI_BIND_ADDRESS=/tmp/php.sock

PHP_FCGI_CHILDREN=16
PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS=10000

env -i PHP_FCGI_CHILDREN=$PHP_FCGI_CHILDREN \
       PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS=$PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS \
       $PHP -b $FCGI_BIND_ADDRESS &

echo $! > "$PHP_PID"

Connecting to remote FCGI instances

Fastcgi instances can be spawned on multiple remote machines in order to scale applications.

fastcgi.server = ( ".php" =>
   (( "host" => "10.0.0.2", "port" => 1030 ),
    ( "host" => "10.0.0.3", "port" => 1030 ))
)

CGI environment and recommended modifications in php.ini

Important when writing PHP scripts is the fact that Sun JSWS/Sun ONE WS/iPlanet/Netscape is a multithreaded web server. Because of that all requests are running in the same process space (the space of the web server itself) and this space has only one environment. If you want to get CGI variables like PATH_INFO, HTTP_HOST etc. it is not the correct way to try this in the old PHP way with getenv() or a similar way (register globals to environment, $_ENV). You would only get the environment of the running web server without any valid CGI variables!

Note:

Why are there (invalid) CGI variables in the environment?

Answer: This is because you started the web server process from the admin server which runs the startup script of the web server, you wanted to start, as a CGI script (a CGI script inside of the admin server!). This is why the environment of the started web server has some CGI environment variables in it. You can test this by starting the web server not from the administration server. Use the command line as root user and start it manually - you will see there are no CGI-like environment variables.

Simply change your scripts to get CGI variables in the correct way for PHP 4.x by using the superglobal $_SERVER. If you have older scripts which use $HTTP_HOST, etc., you should turn on register_globals in php.ini and change the variable order too (important: remove "E" from it, because you do not need the environment here):

variables_order = "GPCS"
register_globals = On

Special use for error pages or self-made directory listings (PHP >= 4.3.3)

You can use PHP to generate the error pages for "404 Not Found" or similar. Add the following line to the object in obj.conf for every error page you want to overwrite:

Error fn="php4_execute" code=XXX script="/path/to/script.php" [inikey=value inikey=value...]

Another possibility is to generate self-made directory listings. Just create a PHP script which displays a directory listing and replace the corresponding default Service line for type="magnus-internal/directory" in obj.conf with the following:

Service fn="php4_execute" type="magnus-internal/directory" script="/path/to/script.php" [inikey=value inikey=value...]

Note about nsapi_virtual() and subrequests (PHP >= 4.3.3)

The NSAPI module now supports the nsapi_virtual() function (alias: virtual()) to make subrequests on the web server and insert the result in the web page. This function uses some undocumented features from the NSAPI library. On Unix the module automatically looks for the needed functions and uses them if available. If not, nsapi_virtual() is disabled.

Note:

But be warned: Support for nsapi_virtual() is EXPERIMENTAL!!!

Testing

If you have built PHP as a CGI program, you may test your build by typing make test. It is always a good idea to test your build. This way you may catch a problem with PHP on your platform early instead of having to struggle with it later.

Using Variables

Some server supplied environment variables are not defined in the current » CGI/1.1 specification. Only the following variables are defined there: AUTH_TYPE, CONTENT_LENGTH, CONTENT_TYPE, GATEWAY_INTERFACE, PATH_INFO, PATH_TRANSLATED, QUERY_STRING, REMOTE_ADDR, REMOTE_HOST, REMOTE_IDENT, REMOTE_USER, REQUEST_METHOD, SCRIPT_NAME, SERVER_NAME, SERVER_PORT, SERVER_PROTOCOL, and SERVER_SOFTWARE. Everything else should be treated as 'vendor extensions'.

Using Binary Packages

Using binary packages to install PHP on OpenBSD is the recommended and simplest method. The core package has been separated from the various modules, and each can be installed and removed independently from the others. The files you need can be found on your OpenBSD CD or on the FTP site.

The main package you need to install is php4-core-4.3.8.tgz, which contains the basic engine (plus gettext and iconv). Next, take a look at the module packages, such as php4-mysql-4.3.8.tgz or php4-imap-4.3.8.tgz. You need to use the phpxs command to activate and deactivate these modules in your php.ini.

# pkg_add php4-core-4.3.8.tgz
# /usr/local/sbin/phpxs -s
# cp /usr/local/share/doc/php4/php.ini-recommended /var/www/conf/php.ini
  (add in mysql)
# pkg_add php4-mysql-4.3.8.tgz
# /usr/local/sbin/phpxs -a mysql
  (add in imap)
# pkg_add php4-imap-4.3.8.tgz
# /usr/local/sbin/phpxs -a imap
  (remove mysql as a test)
# pkg_delete php4-mysql-4.3.8
# /usr/local/sbin/phpxs -r mysql
  (install the PEAR libraries)
# pkg_add php4-pear-4.3.8.tgz

Read the » packages(7) manual page for more information about binary packages on OpenBSD.

Using Ports

You can also compile up PHP from source using the » ports tree. However, this is only recommended for users familiar with OpenBSD. The PHP 4 port is split into two sub-directories: core and extensions. The extensions directory generates sub-packages for all of the supported PHP modules. If you find you do not want to create some of these modules, use the no_* FLAVOR. For example, to skip building the imap module, set the FLAVOR to no_imap.

Common Problems

• The default install of Apache runs inside a » chroot(2) jail, which will restrict PHP scripts to accessing files under /var/www. You will therefore need to create a /var/www/tmp directory for PHP session files to be stored, or use an alternative session backend. In addition, database sockets need to be placed inside the jail or listen on the localhost interface. If you use network functions, some files from /etc such as /etc/resolv.conf and /etc/services will need to be moved into /var/www/etc. The OpenBSD PEAR package automatically installs into the correct chroot directories, so no special modification is needed there. More information on the OpenBSD Apache is available in the » OpenBSD FAQ.
• The OpenBSD 3.6 package for the » gd extension requires XFree86 to be installed. If you do not wish to use some of the font features that require X11, install the php4-gd-4.3.8-no_x11.tgz package instead.

Older Releases

Older releases of OpenBSD used the FLAVORS system to compile up a statically linked PHP. Since it is hard to generate binary packages using this method, it is now deprecated. You can still use the old stable ports trees if you wish, but they are unsupported by the OpenBSD team. If you have any comments about this, the current maintainer for the port is Anil Madhavapeddy (avsm at openbsd dot org).

Required software

Solaris installs often lack C compilers and their related tools. Read this FAQ for information on why using GNU versions for some of these tools is necessary.

For unpacking the PHP distribution you need

• tar
• gzip or
• bzip2

For compiling PHP you need

• gcc (recommended, other C compilers may work)
• make
• GNU sed

For building extra extensions or hacking the code of PHP you might also need

• flex (up to PHP 5.2)
• re2c
• bison
• m4
• autoconf
• automake

Using Packages

You can simplify the Solaris install process by using pkgadd to install most of your needed components. The Image Packaging System (IPS) for Solaris 11 Express also contains most of the required components for installation using the pkg command.

Using APT

First, note that other related packages may be desired like libapache2-mod-php5 to integrate with Apache 2, and php-pear for PEAR.

Second, before installing a package, it's wise to ensure the package list is up to date. Typically, this is done by running the command apt-get update.

# apt-get install php5-common libapache2-mod-php5 php5-cli

APT will automatically install the PHP 5 module for Apache 2 and all of its dependencies, and then activate it. Apache should be restarted in order for the changes take place. For example:

# /etc/init.d/apache2 stop
# /etc/init.d/apache2 start

Better control of configuration

In the last section, PHP was installed with only core modules. It's very likely that additional modules will be desired, such as MySQL, cURL, GD, etc. These may also be installed via the apt-get command.

# apt-cache search php5
# aptitude search php5
# aptitude search php5 |grep -i mysql

The examples will show a lot of packages including several PHP specific ones like php5-cgi, php5-cli and php5-dev. Determine which are needed and install them like any other with either apt-get or aptitude. And because Debian performs dependency checks, it'll prompt for those so for example to install MySQL and cURL:

# apt-get install php5-mysql php5-curl

APT will automatically add the appropriate lines to the different php.ini related files like /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini, /etc/php5/conf.d/pdo.ini, etc. and depending on the extension will add entries similar to extension=foo.so. However, restarting the web server (like Apache) is required before these changes take affect.

Common Problems

• If the PHP scripts are not parsing via the web server, then it's likely that PHP was not added to the web server's configuration file, which on Debian may be /etc/apache2/apache2.conf or similar. See the Debian manual for further details.
• If an extension was seemingly installed yet the functions are undefined, be sure that the appropriate ini file is being loaded and/or the web server was restarted after installation.
• There are two basic commands for installing packages on Debian (and other linux variants): apt-get and aptitude. However, explaining the subtle differences between these commands goes beyond the scope of this manual.

Selecting and downloading the PHP distribution package

Download the PHP zip binary distribution from » PHP for Windows: Binaries and Sources. There are several different versions of the zip package - choose the version that is suitable for the web server being used:

• If PHP is used with IIS then choose PHP 5.3 VC9 Non Thread Safe or PHP 5.2 VC6 Non Thread Safe;

• If PHP is used with IIS7 or greater and PHP 5.3+, then the VC9 binaries of PHP should be used.

• If PHP is used with Apache 1 or Apache 2 then choose PHP 5.3 VC6 or PHP 5.2 VC6.

Note:

VC9 Versions are compiled with the Visual Studio 2008 compiler and have improvements in performance and stability. The VC9 versions require you to have the » Microsoft 2008 C++ Runtime (x86) or the » Microsoft 2008 C++ Runtime (x64) installed.

The PHP package structure and content

Unpack the content of the zip archive into a directory of your choice, for example C:\PHP\. The directory and file structure extracted from the zip will look as below:

c:\php
   |
   +--dev
   |  |
   |  |-php5ts.lib                 -- php5.lib in non thread safe version
   |
   +--ext                          -- extension DLLs for PHP
   |  |
   |  |-php_bz2.dll
   |  |
   |  |-php_cpdf.dll
   |  |
   |  |-...
   |
   +--extras                       -- empty 
   |
   +--pear                         -- initial copy of PEAR
   |
   |
   |-go-pear.bat                   -- PEAR setup script
   |
   |-...
   |
   |-php-cgi.exe                   -- CGI executable
   |
   |-php-win.exe                   -- executes scripts without an opened command prompt
   |
   |-php.exe                       -- Command line PHP executable (CLI)
   |
   |-...
   |
   |-php.ini-development           -- default php.ini settings
   |
   |-php.ini-production            -- recommended php.ini settings
   |
   |-php5apache2_2.dll             -- does not exist in non thread safe version
   |
   |-php5apache2_2_filter.dll      -- does not exist in non thread safe version
   |
   |-...
   |
   |-php5ts.dll                    -- core PHP DLL ( php5.dll in non thread safe version)
   | 
   |-...

Below is the list of the modules and executables included in the PHP zip distribution:

• go-pear.bat - the PEAR setup script. Refer to » Installation (PEAR) for more details.

• php-cgi.exe - CGI executable that can be used when running PHP on IIS via CGI or FastCGI.

• php-win.exe - the PHP executable for executing PHP scripts without using a command line window (for example PHP applications that use Windows GUI).

• php.exe - the PHP executable for executing PHP scripts within a command line interface (CLI).

• php5apache2_2.dll - Apache 2.2.X module.

• php5apache2_2_filter.dll - Apache 2.2.X filter.

Changing the php.ini file

After the php package content has been extracted, copy the php.ini-production into php.ini in the same folder. If necessary, it is also possible to place the php.ini into any other location of your choice but that will require additional configuration steps as described in PHP Configuration.

The php.ini file tells PHP how to configure itself, and how to work with the environment that it runs in. Here are a number of settings for the php.ini file that help PHP work better with Windows. Some of these are optional. There are many other directives that may be relevant to your environment - refer to the list of php.ini directives for more information.

Required directives:

• extension_dir = <path to extension directory> - The extension_dir needs to point to the directory where PHP extensions files are stored. The path can be absolute (i.e. "C:\PHP\ext") or relative (i.e. ".\ext"). Extensions that are listed lower in the php.ini file need to be located in the extension_dir.

• extension = xxxxx.dll - For each extension you wish to enable, you need a corresponding "extension=" directive that tells PHP which extensions in the extension_dir to load at startup time.

• log_errors = On - PHP has an error logging facility that can be used to send errors to a file, or to a service (i.e. syslog) and works in conjunction with the error_log directive below. When running under IIS, the log_errors should be enabled, with a valid error_log.

• error_log = <path to the error log file> - The error_log needs to specify the absolute, or relative path to the file where PHP errors should be logged. This file needs to be writable for the web server. The most common places for this file are in various TEMP directories, for example "C:\inetpub\temp\php-errors.log".

• cgi.force_redirect = 0 - This directive is required for running under IIS. It is a directory security facility required by many other web servers. However, enabling it under IIS will cause the PHP engine to fail on Windows.

• cgi.fix_pathinfo = 1 - This lets PHP access real path info following the CGI Spec. The IIS FastCGI implementation needs this set.

• fastcgi.impersonate = 1 - FastCGI under IIS supports the ability to impersonate security tokens of the calling client. This allows IIS to define the security context that the request runs under.

• fastcgi.logging = 0 - FastCGI logging should be disabled on IIS. If it is left enabled, then any messages of any class are treated by FastCGI as error conditions which will cause IIS to generate an HTTP 500 exception.

Optional directives

• max_execution_time = ## - This directive tells PHP the maximum amount of time that it can spend executing any given script. The default for this is 30 seconds. Increase the value of this directive if PHP application take long time to execute.

• memory_limit = ###M - The amount of memory available for the PHP process, in Megabytes. The default is 128, which is fine for most PHP applications. Some of the more complex ones might need more.

• display_errors = Off - This directive tells PHP whether to include any error messages in the stream that it returns to the Web server. If this is set to "On", then PHP will send whichever classes of errors that you define with the error_reporting directive back to web server as part of the error stream. For security reasons it is recommended to set it to "Off" on production servers in order not to reveal any security sensitive information that is often included in the error messages.

• open_basedir = <paths to directories, separated by semicolon>, e.g. openbasedir="C:\inetpub\wwwroot;C:\inetpub\temp". This directive specified the directory paths where PHP is allowed to perform file system operations. Any file operation outside of the specified paths will result in an error. This directive is especially useful for locking down the PHP installation in shared hosting environments to prevent PHP scripts from accessing any files outside of the web site's root directory.

• upload_max_filesize = ###M and post_max_size = ###M - The maximum allowed size of an uploaded file and post data respectively. The values of these directives should be increased if PHP applications need to perform large uploads, such as for example photos or video files.

PHP is now setup on your system. The next step is to choose a web server, and enable it to run PHP. Choose a web server from the table of contents.

In addition to running PHP via a web server, PHP can run from the command line just like a .BAT script. See Command Line PHP on Microsoft Windows for further details.

Configuring IIS to process PHP requests

Download and install PHP in accordance to the instructions described in manual installation steps

Note:

Non-thread-safe build of PHP is recommended when using IIS. The non-thread-safe builds are available at » PHP for Windows: Binaries and Sources Releases.

Configure the CGI- and FastCGI-specific settings in php.ini file as shown below:

fastcgi.impersonate = 1
fastcgi.logging = 0
cgi.fix_pathinfo=1
cgi.force_redirect = 0

Download and install the » Microsoft FastCGI Extension for IIS 5.1 and 6.0. The extension is available for 32-bit and 64-bit platforms - select the right download package for your platform.

Configure the FastCGI extension to handle PHP-specific requests by running the command shown below. Replace the value of the "-path" parameter with the absolute file path to the php-cgi.exe file.

cscript %windir%\system32\inetsrv\fcgiconfig.js -add -section:"PHP" ^
-extension:php -path:"C:\PHP\php-cgi.exe"

This command will create an IIS script mapping for *.php file extension, which will result in all URLs that end with .php being handled by FastCGI extension. Also, it will configure FastCGI extension to use the executable php-cgi.exe to process the PHP requests.

Note:

At this point the required installation and configuration steps are completed. The remaining instructions below are optional but highly recommended for achieving optimal functionality and performance of PHP on IIS.

Impersonation and file system access

It is recommended to enable FastCGI impersonation in PHP when using IIS. This is controlled by the fastcgi.impersonate directive in php.ini file. When impersonation is enabled, PHP will perform all the file system operations on behalf of the user account that has been determined by IIS authentication. This ensures that even if the same PHP process is shared across different IIS web sites, the PHP scripts in those web sites will not be able to access each others' files as long as different user accounts are used for IIS authentication on each web site.

For example IIS 5.1 and IIS 6.0, in its default configuration, has anonymous authentication enabled with built-in user account IUSR_<MACHINE_NAME> used as a default identity. This means that in order for IIS to execute PHP scripts, it is necessary to grant IUSR_<MACHINE_NAME> account read permission on those scripts. If PHP applications need to perform write operations on certain files or write files into some folders then IUSR_<MACHINE_NAME> account should have write permission to those.

To determine which user account is used by IIS anonymous authentication, follow these steps:

To modify the permissions settings on files and folders, use the Windows Explorer user interface or icacls command.

icacls C:\inetpub\wwwroot\upload /grant IUSR:(OI)(CI)(M)

Set index.php as a default document in IIS

The IIS default documents are used for HTTP requests that do not specify a document name. With PHP applications, index.php usually acts as a default document. To add index.php to the list of IIS default documents, follow these steps:

FastCGI and PHP Recycling configuration

Configure IIS FastCGI extension settings for recycling of PHP processes by using the commands shown below. The FastCGI setting instanceMaxRequests controls how many requests will be processed by a single php-cgi.exe process before FastCGI extension shuts it down. The PHP environment variable PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS controls how many requests a single php-cgi.exe process will handle before it recycles itself. Make sure that the value specified for FastCGI InstanceMaxRequests setting is less than or equal to the value specified for PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS.

cscript %windir%\system32\inetsrv\fcgiconfig.js -set -section:"PHP" ^
-InstanceMaxRequests:10000

cscript %windir%\system32\inetsrv\fcgiconfig.js -set -section:"PHP" ^
-EnvironmentVars:PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS:10000

Configuring FastCGI timeout settings

Increase the timeout settings for FastCGI extension if there are applications that have long running PHP scripts. The two settings that control timeouts are ActivityTimeout and RequestTimeout. Refer to » Configuring FastCGI Extension for IIS 6.0 for more information about those settings.

cscript %windir%\system32\inetsrv\fcgiconfig.js -set -section:"PHP" ^
-ActivityTimeout:90

cscript %windir%\system32\inetsrv\fcgiconfig.js -set -section:"PHP" ^
-RequestTimeout:90

Changing the Location of php.ini file

PHP searches for php.ini file in several locations and it is possible to change the default locations of php.ini file by using PHPRC environment variable. To instruct PHP to load the configuration file from a custom location run the command shown below. The absolute path to the directory with php.ini file should be specified as a value of PHPRC environment variable.

cscript %windir%\system32\inetsrv\fcgiconfig.js -set -section:"PHP" ^
-EnvironmentVars:PHPRC:"C:\Some\Directory\"

Enabling FastCGI support in IIS

FastCGI module is disabled in default installation of IIS. The steps to enable it differ based on the version of Windows being used.

To enable FastCGI support on Windows Vista SP1 and Windows 7:

To enable FastCGI support on Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2:

Configuring IIS to process PHP requests

Download and install PHP in accordance to the instructions described in manual installation steps

Note:

Non-thread-safe build of PHP is recommended when using IIS. The non-thread-safe builds are available at » PHP for Windows: Binaries and Sources Releases.

Configure the CGI- and FastCGI-specific settings in php.ini file as shown below:

fastcgi.impersonate = 1
fastcgi.logging = 0
cgi.fix_pathinfo=1
cgi.force_redirect = 0

Configure IIS handler mapping for PHP by using either IIS Manager user interface or a command line tool.

Using IIS Manager user interface to create a handler mapping for PHP

Follow these steps to create an IIS handler mapping for PHP in IIS Manager user interface:

1. In the Windows Start Menu choose "Run:", type "inetmgr" and click "Ok";

2. In the IIS Manager user interface select the server node in the "Connections" tree view;

3. In the "Features View" page open the "Handler Mappings" feature;

   

4. In the "Actions" pane click "Add Module Mapping...";

5. In the "Add Module Mapping" dialog enter the following:

   • Request path: *.php
   • Module: FastCgiModule
   • Executable: C:\[Path to PHP installation]\php-cgi.exe
   • Name: PHP_via_FastCGI

6. Click "Request Restrictions" button and then configure the mapping to invoke handler only if request is mapped to a file or a folder;

7. Click OK on all the dialogs to save the configuration.

%windir%\system32\inetsrv\appcmd set config /section:system.webServer/fastCGI ^
/+[fullPath='c:\PHP\php-cgi.exe']

%windir%\system32\inetsrv\appcmd set config /section:system.webServer/handlers ^
/+[name='PHP_via_FastCGI', path='*.php',verb='*',modules='FastCgiModule',^
scriptProcessor='c:\PHP\php-cgi.exe',resourceType='Either']

Impersonation and file system access

It is recommended to enable FastCGI impersonation in PHP when using IIS. This is controlled by the fastcgi.impersonate directive in php.ini file. When impersonation is enabled, PHP will perform all the file system operations on behalf of the user account that has been determined by IIS authentication. This ensures that even if the same PHP process is shared across different IIS web sites, the PHP scripts in those web sites will not be able to access each other's files as long as different user accounts are used for IIS authentication on each web site.

For example IIS 7, in its default configuration, has anonymous authentication enabled with built-in user account IUSR used as a default identity. This means that in order for IIS to execute PHP scripts, it is necessary to grant IUSR account read permission on those scripts. If PHP applications need to perform write operations on certain files or write files into some folders then IUSR account should have write permission to those.

To determine what user account is used as an anonymous identity in IIS 7 use the following command. Replace the "Default Web Site" with the name of IIS web site that you use. In the output XML configuration element look for the userName attribute.

%windir%\system32\inetsrv\appcmd.exe list config "Default Web Site" ^
/section:anonymousAuthentication

<system.webServer>
  <security>
    <authentication>
      <anonymousAuthentication enabled="true" userName="IUSR" />
    </authentication>
   </security>
</system.webServer>

Note:

If userName attribute is not present in the anonymousAuthentication element, or is set to an empty string, then it means that the application pool identity is used as an anonymous identity for that web site.

To modify the permissions settings on files and folders, use the Windows Explorer user interface or icacls command.

icacls C:\inetpub\wwwroot\upload /grant IUSR:(OI)(CI)(M)

Set index.php as a default document in IIS

The IIS default documents are used for HTTP requests that do not specify a document name. With PHP applications, index.php usually acts as a default document. To add index.php to the list of IIS default documents, use this command:

%windir%\system32\inetsrv\appcmd.exe set config ^
-section:system.webServer/defaultDocument /+"files.[value='index.php']" ^
/commit:apphost

FastCGI and PHP Recycling configuration

Configure IIS FastCGI settings for recycling of PHP processes by using the commands shown below. The FastCGI setting instanceMaxRequests controls how many requests will be processed by a single php-cgi.exe process before IIS shuts it down. The PHP environment variable PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS controls how many requests a single php-cgi.exe process will handle before it recycles itself. Make sure that the value specified for FastCGI InstanceMaxRequests setting is less than or equal to the value specified for PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS.

%windir%\system32\inetsrv\appcmd.exe set config -section:system.webServer/fastCgi ^
/[fullPath='c:\php\php-cgi.exe'].instanceMaxRequests:10000

%windir%\system32\inetsrv\appcmd.exe set config -section:system.webServer/fastCgi ^
/+"[fullPath='C:\{php_folder}\php-cgi.exe'].environmentVariables.^
[name='PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS',value='10000']"

FastCGI timeout settings

Increase the timeout settings for FastCGI if it is expected to have long running PHP scripts. The two settings that control timeouts are activityTimeout and requestTimeout. Use the commands below to change the timeout settings. Make sure to replace the value in the fullPath parameter to contain the absolute path to the php-cgi.exe file.

%windir%\system32\inetsrv\appcmd.exe set config -section:system.webServer/fastCgi ^
/[fullPath='C:\php\php-cgi.exe',arguments=''].activityTimeout:"90"  /commit:apphost

%windir%\system32\inetsrv\appcmd.exe set config -section:system.webServer/fastCgi ^
/[fullPath='C:\php\php-cgi.exe',arguments=''].requestTimeout:"90"  /commit:apphost

Changing the Location of php.ini file

PHP searches for php.ini file in several locations and it is possible to change the default locations of php.ini file by using PHPRC environment variable. To instruct PHP to load the configuration file from a custom location run the command shown below. The absolute path to the directory with php.ini file should be specified as a value of PHPRC environment variable.

appcmd.exe set config  -section:system.webServer/fastCgi ^
/+"[fullPath='C:\php\php.exe',arguments=''].environmentVariables.^
[name='PHPRC',value='C:\Some\Directory\']" /commit:apphost

Installing as an Apache module

You should add the following lines to your Apache httpd.conf file:

# Add to the end of the LoadModule section
# Don't forget to copy this file from the sapi directory!
LoadModule php4_module "C:/php/php4apache.dll"

# Add to the end of the AddModule section
AddModule mod_php4.c

# Add to the end of the LoadModule section
LoadModule php5_module "C:/php/php5apache.dll"

# Add to the end of the AddModule section
AddModule mod_php5.c

# Add this line inside the <IfModule mod_mime.c> conditional brace
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php

# For syntax highlighted .phps files, also add
AddType application/x-httpd-php-source .phps

Installing as a CGI binary

If you unzipped the PHP package to C:\php\ as described in the Manual Installation Steps section, you need to insert these lines to your Apache configuration file to set up the CGI binary:

ScriptAlias /php/ "c:/php/"
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php

# For PHP 4
Action application/x-httpd-php "/php/php.exe"

# For PHP 5
Action application/x-httpd-php "/php/php-cgi.exe"

# specify the directory where php.ini is
SetEnv PHPRC C:/php

If you would like to present PHP source files syntax highlighted, there is no such convenient option as with the module version of PHP. If you chose to configure Apache to use PHP as a CGI binary, you will need to use the highlight_file() function. To do this simply create a PHP script file and add this code: <?php highlight_file('some_php_script.php'); ?>.

Installing as an Apache handler

You need to insert the following lines into your Apache httpd.conf configuration file to load the PHP module for Apache 2.x:

# 
LoadModule php5_module "c:/php/php5apache2.dll"
AddHandler application/x-httpd-php .php

# configure the path to php.ini
PHPIniDir "C:/php"

Note: Remember to substitute your actual path to PHP for the C:/php/ in the above examples. Take care to use either php5apache2.dll or php5apache2_2.dll in your LoadModule directive and verify that the referenced file is in fact located at the file path that you point to in this directive.

The above configuration will enable PHP handling of any file that has a .php extension, even if there are other file extensions. For example, a file named example.php.txt will be executed by the PHP handler. To ensure that only files that end in .php are executed, use the following configuration instead:

<FilesMatch \.php$>
      SetHandler application/x-httpd-php
 </FilesMatch>

Running PHP as CGI

You should consult the » Apache CGI documentation for a more complete understanding of running CGI on Apache.

To run PHP as CGI, you'll need to place your php-cgi files in a directory designated as a CGI directory using the ScriptAlias directive.

You will then need to insert a #! line in the PHP files, pointing to the location of your PHP binary:

#!C:/php/php.exe
<?php
  phpinfo();
?>

Running PHP under FastCGI

Running PHP under FastCGI has a number of advantages over running it as a CGI. Setting it up this way is fairly straightforward:

Obtain mod_fcgid from » http://httpd.apache.org/mod_fcgid/. Win32 binaries are available for download from that site. Install the module according to the instructions that will come with it.

Configure your web server as shown below, taking care to adjust any paths to reflect your how you have installed things on your particular system:

LoadModule fcgid_module modules/mod_fcgid.so  

# Where is your php.ini file?
FcgidInitialEnv PHPRC        "c:/php" 

AddHandler fcgid-script .php  
FcgidWrapper "c:/php/php-cgi.exe" .php  

CGI setup on Sun, iPlanet and Netscape servers

To install PHP as a CGI handler, do the following:

• Copy php4ts.dll to your systemroot (the directory where you installed Windows)

• Make a file association from the command line. Type the following two lines:

  assoc .php=PHPScript
  ftype PHPScript=c:\php\php.exe %1 %*

• In the Netscape Enterprise Administration Server create a dummy shellcgi directory and remove it just after (this step creates 5 important lines in obj.conf and allow the web server to handle shellcgi scripts).
• In the Netscape Enterprise Administration Server create a new mime type (Category: type, Content-Type: magnus-internal/shellcgi, File Suffix:php).
• Do it for each web server instance you want PHP to run

More details about setting up PHP as a CGI executable can be found here: » http://benoit.noss.free.fr/php/install-php.html

NSAPI setup on Sun, iPlanet and Netscape servers

To install PHP with NSAPI, do the following:

• Copy php4ts.dll to your systemroot (the directory where you installed Windows)

• Make a file association from the command line. Type the following two lines:

  assoc .php=PHPScript
  ftype PHPScript=c:\php\php.exe %1 %*

• In the Netscape Enterprise Administration Server create a new mime type (Category: type, Content-Type: magnus-internal/x-httpd-php, File Suffix: php).

• Edit magnus.conf (for servers >= 6) or obj.conf (for servers < 6) and add the following: You should place the lines after mime types init.

  Init fn="load-modules" funcs="php4_init,php4_execute,php4_auth_trans" shlib="c:/php/sapi/php4nsapi.dll"
  Init fn="php4_init" LateInit="yes" errorString="Failed to initialise PHP!" [php_ini="c:/path/to/php.ini"]
  

  (PHP >= 4.3.3) The php_ini parameter is optional but with it you can place your php.ini in your web server configuration directory.

• Configure the default object in obj.conf (for virtual server classes [Sun Web Server 6.0+] in their vserver.obj.conf): In the <Object name="default"> section, place this line necessarily after all 'ObjectType' and before all 'AddLog' lines:

  Service fn="php4_execute" type="magnus-internal/x-httpd-php" [inikey=value inikey=value ...]
  

  (PHP >= 4.3.3) As additional parameters you can add some special php.ini-values, for example you can set a docroot="/path/to/docroot" specific to the context php4_execute is called. For boolean ini-keys please use 0/1 as value, not "On","Off",... (this will not work correctly), e.g. zlib.output_compression=1 instead of zlib.output_compression="On"

• This is only needed if you want to configure a directory that only consists of PHP scripts (same like a cgi-bin directory):

  <Object name="x-httpd-php">
  ObjectType fn="force-type" type="magnus-internal/x-httpd-php"
  Service fn=php4_execute [inikey=value inikey=value ...]
  </Object>
  

  After that you can configure a directory in the Administration server and assign it the style x-httpd-php. All files in it will get executed as PHP. This is nice to hide PHP usage by renaming files to .html.

• Restart your web service and apply changes
• Do it for each web server instance you want PHP to run

Note:

More details about setting up PHP as an NSAPI filter can be found here: » http://benoit.noss.free.fr/php/install-php4.html

Note:

The stacksize that PHP uses depends on the configuration of the web server. If you get crashes with very large PHP scripts, it is recommended to raise it with the Admin Server (in the section "MAGNUS EDITOR").

CGI environment and recommended modifications in php.ini

Important when writing PHP scripts is the fact that Sun JSWS/Sun ONE WS/iPlanet/Netscape is a multithreaded web server. Because of that all requests are running in the same process space (the space of the web server itself) and this space has only one environment. If you want to get CGI variables like PATH_INFO, HTTP_HOST etc. it is not the correct way to try this in the old PHP way with getenv() or a similar way (register globals to environment, $_ENV). You would only get the environment of the running web server without any valid CGI variables!

Note:

Why are there (invalid) CGI variables in the environment?

Answer: This is because you started the web server process from the admin server which runs the startup script of the web server, you wanted to start, as a CGI script (a CGI script inside of the admin server!). This is why the environment of the started web server has some CGI environment variables in it. You can test this by starting the web server not from the administration server. Use the command line as root user and start it manually - you will see there are no CGI-like environment variables.

Simply change your scripts to get CGI variables in the correct way for PHP 4.x by using the superglobal $_SERVER. If you have older scripts which use $HTTP_HOST, etc., you should turn on register_globals in php.ini and change the variable order too (important: remove "E" from it, because you do not need the environment here):

variables_order = "GPCS"
register_globals = On

Special use for error pages or self-made directory listings (PHP >= 4.3.3)

You can use PHP to generate the error pages for "404 Not Found" or similar. Add the following line to the object in obj.conf for every error page you want to overwrite:

Error fn="php4_execute" code=XXX script="/path/to/script.php" [inikey=value inikey=value...]

Another possibility is to generate self-made directory listings. Just create a PHP script which displays a directory listing and replace the corresponding default Service line for type="magnus-internal/directory" in obj.conf with the following:

Service fn="php4_execute" type="magnus-internal/directory" script="/path/to/script.php" [inikey=value inikey=value...]

Note about nsapi_virtual() and subrequests (PHP >= 4.3.3)

The NSAPI module now supports the nsapi_virtual() function (alias: virtual()) to make subrequests on the web server and insert the result in the web page. The problem is, that this function uses some undocumented features from the NSAPI library.

Under Unix this is not a problem, because the module automatically looks for the needed functions and uses them if available. If not, nsapi_virtual() is disabled.

Under Windows limitations in the DLL handling need the use of a automatic detection of the most recent ns-httpdXX.dll file. This is tested for servers till version 6.1. If a newer version of the Sun server is used, the detection fails and nsapi_virtual() is disabled.

If this is the case, try the following: Add the following parameter to php4_init in magnus.conf/obj.conf:

Init fn=php4_init ... server_lib="ns-httpdXX.dll"

You can check the status by using the phpinfo() function.

Note:

But be warned: Support for nsapi_virtual() is EXPERIMENTAL!!!

Compiling from sources

In order to enable FPM in your PHP build you need to add --enable-fpm to your configure line.

There are several other FPM-specific configure options (all of them optional):

• --with-fpm-user - set FPM user (default - nobody).

• --with-fpm-group - set FPM group (default - nobody).

List of global php-fpm.conf directives

pid string

Path to PID file. Default value: none.

error_log string

Path to error log file. Default value: #INSTALL_PREFIX#/log/php-fpm.log.

log_level string

Error log level. Possible values: alert, error, warning, notice, debug. Default value: notice.

emergency_restart_threshold int

If this number of child processes exit with SIGSEGV or SIGBUS within the time interval set by emergency_restart_interval then FPM will restart. A value of 0 means 'Off'. Default value: 0 (Off).

emergency_restart_interval mixed

Interval of time used by emergency_restart_interval to determine when a graceful restart will be initiated. This can be useful to work around accidental corruptions in an accelerator's shared memory. Available Units: s(econds), m(inutes), h(ours), or d(ays). Default Unit: seconds. Default value: 0 (Off).

process_control_timeout mixed

Time limit for child processes to wait for a reaction on signals from master. Available units: s(econds), m(inutes), h(ours), or d(ays) Default Unit: seconds. Default value: 0.

daemonize boolean

Send FPM to background. Set to 'no' to keep FPM in foreground for debugging. Default value: yes.

List of pool directives

With FPM you can run several pools of processes with different setting. These are settings that can be tweaked per pool.

listen string

The address on which to accept FastCGI requests. Valid syntaxes are: 'ip.add.re.ss:port', 'port', '/path/to/unix/socket'. This option is mandatory for each pool.

listen.backlog int

Set listen(2) backlog. A value of '-1' means unlimited. Default value: -1.

listen.allowed_clients string

List of ipv4 addresses of FastCGI clients which are allowed to connect. Equivalent to the FCGI_WEB_SERVER_ADDRS environment variable in the original PHP FastCGI (5.2.2+). Makes sense only with a tcp listening socket. Each address must be separated by a comma. If this value is left blank, connections will be accepted from any ip address. Default value: any.

listen.owner string

Set permissions for unix socket, if one is used. In Linux, read/write permissions must be set in order to allow connections from a web server. Many BSD-derived systems allow connections regardless of permissions. Default values: user and group are set as the running user, mode is set to 0666.

listen.group string

See listen.owner.

listen.mode string

See listen.owner.

user string

Unix user of FPM processes. This option is mandatory.

group string

Unix group of FPM processes. If not set, the default user's group is used.

pm string

Choose how the process manager will control the number of child processes. Possible values: static, ondemand, dynamic. This option is mandatory.

static - the number of child processes is fixed (pm.max_children).

ondemand - the processes spawn on demand (when requested, as opposed to dynamic, where pm.start_servers are started when the service is started.

dynamic - the number of child processes is set dynamically based on the following directives: pm.max_children, pm.start_servers, pm.min_spare_servers, pm.max_spare_servers.

pm.max_children int

The number of child processes to be created when pm is set to static and the maximum number of child processes to be created when pm is set to dynamic. This option is mandatory.

This option sets the limit on the number of simultaneous requests that will be served. Equivalent to the ApacheMaxClients directive with mpm_prefork and to the PHP_FCGI_CHILDREN environment variable in the original PHP FastCGI.

pm.start_servers int

The number of child processes created on startup. Used only when pm is set to dynamic. Default Value: min_spare_servers + (max_spare_servers - min_spare_servers) / 2.

pm.min_spare_servers int

The desired minimum number of idle server processes. Used only when pm is set to dynamic. Also mandatory in this case.

pm.max_spare_servers int

The desired maximum number of idle server processes. Used only when pm is set to dynamic. Also mandatory in this case.

pm.max_requests int

The number of requests each child process should execute before respawning. This can be useful to work around memory leaks in 3rd party libraries. For endless request processing specify '0'. Equivalent to PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS. Default value: 0.

pm.status_path string

The URI to view the FPM status page. If this value is not set, no URI will be recognized as a status page. Default value: none.

ping.path string

The ping URI to call the monitoring page of FPM. If this value is not set, no URI will be recognized as a ping page. This could be used to test from outside that FPM is alive and responding. Please note that the value must start with a leading slash (/).

ping.response string

This directive may be used to customize the response to a ping request. The response is formatted as text/plain with a 200 response code. Default value: pong.

request_terminate_timeout mixed

The timeout for serving a single request after which the worker process will be killed. This option should be used when the 'max_execution_time' ini option does not stop script execution for some reason. A value of '0' means 'Off'. Available units: s(econds)(default), m(inutes), h(ours), or d(ays). Default value: 0.

request_slowlog_timeout mixed

The timeout for serving a single request after which a PHP backtrace will be dumped to the 'slowlog' file. A value of '0' means 'Off'. Available units: s(econds)(default), m(inutes), h(ours), or d(ays). Default value: 0.

slowlog string

The log file for slow requests. Default value: #INSTALL_PREFIX#/log/php-fpm.log.slow.

rlimit_files int

Set open file descriptor rlimit. Default value: system defined value.

rlimit_core int

Set max core size rlimit. Possible Values: 'unlimited' or an integer greater or equal to 0. Default value: system defined value.

chroot string

Chroot to this directory at the start. This value must be defined as an absolute path. When this value is not set, chroot is not used.

chdir string

Chdir to this directory at the start. This value must be an absolute path. Default value: current directory or / when chroot.

catch_workers_output boolean

Redirect worker stdout and stderr into main error log. If not set, stdout and stderr will be redirected to /dev/null according to FastCGI specs. Default value: no.

It's possible to pass additional environment variables and update PHP settings of a certain pool. To do this, you need to add the following options to the pool configuration file.

env[HOSTNAME] = $HOSTNAME
env[PATH] = /usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin
env[TMP] = /tmp
env[TMPDIR] = /tmp
env[TEMP] = /tmp

php_admin_value[sendmail_path] = /usr/sbin/sendmail -t -i -f www@my.domain.com
php_flag[display_errors] = off
php_admin_value[error_log] = /var/log/fpm-php.www.log
php_admin_flag[log_errors] = on
php_admin_value[memory_limit] = 32M

Settings defined with php_admin_value and php_admin_flag cannot be overriden with ini_set().

As of 5.3.3, PHP settings are also possible to be set in webserver.

set $php_value "pcre.backtrack_limit=424242";
set $php_value "$php_value \n pcre.recursion_limit=99999";
fastcgi_param  PHP_VALUE $php_value;

fastcgi_param  PHP_ADMIN_VALUE "open_basedir=/var/www/htdocs";

Where to find an extension?

PHP extensions are usually called "php_*.dll" (where the star represents the name of the extension) and they are located under the "PHP\ext" ("PHP\extensions" in PHP 4) folder.

PHP ships with the extensions most useful to the majority of developers. They are called "core" extensions.

However, if you need functionality not provided by any core extension, you may still be able to find one in PECL. The PHP Extension Community Library (PECL) is a repository for PHP Extensions, providing a directory of all known extensions and hosting facilities for downloading and development of PHP extensions.

If you have developed an extension for your own uses, you might want to think about hosting it on PECL so that others with the same needs can benefit from your time. A nice side effect is that you give them a good chance to give you feedback, (hopefully) thanks, bug reports and even fixes/patches. Before you submit your extension for hosting on PECL, please read http://pecl.php.net/package-new.php.

Which extension to download?

Many times, you will find several versions of each DLL:

• Different version numbers (at least the first two numbers should match)
• Different thread safety settings
• Different processor architecture (x86, x64, ...)
• Different debugging settings
• etc.

You should keep in mind that your extension settings should match all the settings of the PHP executable you are using. The following PHP script will tell you all about your PHP settings:

Or from the command line, run:

drive:\\path\to\php\executable\php.exe -i

Loading an extension

The most common way to load a PHP extension is to include it in your php.ini configuration file. Please note that many extensions are already present in your php.ini and that you only need to remove the semicolon to activate them.

;extension=php_extname.dll

extension=php_extname.dll

However, some web servers are confusing because they do not use the php.ini located alongside your PHP executable. To find out where your actual php.ini resides, look for its path in phpinfo():

Configuration File (php.ini) Path  C:\WINDOWS

Loaded Configuration File   C:\Program Files\PHP\5.2\php.ini

After activating an extension, save php.ini, restart the web server and check phpinfo() again. The new extension should now have its own section.

Resolving problems

If the extension does not appear in phpinfo(), you should check your logs to learn where the problem comes from.

If you are using PHP from the command line (CLI), the extension loading error can be read directly on screen.

If you are using PHP with a web server, the location and format of the logs vary depending on your software. Please read your web server documentation to locate the logs, as it does not have anything to do with PHP itself.

Common problems are the location of the DLL, the value of the " extension_dir" setting inside php.ini and compile-time setting mismatches.

If the problem lies in a compile-time setting mismatch, you probably didn't download the right DLL. Try downloading again the extension with the right settings. Again, phpinfo() can be of great help.

Running PHP as an Apache module

When using PHP as an Apache module, you can also change the configuration settings using directives in Apache configuration files (e.g. httpd.conf) and .htaccess files. You will need "AllowOverride Options" or "AllowOverride All" privileges to do so.

There are several Apache directives that allow you to change the PHP configuration from within the Apache configuration files. For a listing of which directives are PHP_INI_ALL, PHP_INI_PERDIR, or PHP_INI_SYSTEM, have a look at the List of php.ini directives appendix.

php_value name value

Sets the value of the specified directive. Can be used only with PHP_INI_ALL and PHP_INI_PERDIR type directives. To clear a previously set value use none as the value.

Note: Don't use php_value to set boolean values. php_flag (see below) should be used instead.

php_flag name on|off

Used to set a boolean configuration directive. Can be used only with PHP_INI_ALL and PHP_INI_PERDIR type directives.

php_admin_value name value

Sets the value of the specified directive. This can not be used in .htaccess files. Any directive type set with php_admin_value can not be overridden by .htaccess or ini_set(). To clear a previously set value use none as the value.

php_admin_flag name on|off

Used to set a boolean configuration directive. This can not be used in .htaccess files. Any directive type set with php_admin_flag can not be overridden by .htaccess or ini_set().

<IfModule mod_php5.c>
  php_value include_path ".:/usr/local/lib/php"
  php_admin_flag engine on
</IfModule>
<IfModule mod_php4.c>
  php_value include_path ".:/usr/local/lib/php"
  php_admin_flag engine on
</IfModule>

Changing PHP configuration via the Windows registry

When running PHP on Windows, the configuration values can be modified on a per-directory basis using the Windows registry. The configuration values are stored in the registry key HKLM\SOFTWARE\PHP\Per Directory Values, in the sub-keys corresponding to the path names. For example, configuration values for the directory c:\inetpub\wwwroot would be stored in the key HKLM\SOFTWARE\PHP\Per Directory Values\c\inetpub\wwwroot. The settings for the directory would be active for any script running from this directory or any subdirectory of it. The values under the key should have the name of the PHP configuration directive and the string value. PHP constants in the values are not parsed. However, only configuration values changeable in PHP_INI_USER can be set this way, PHP_INI_PERDIR values can not.

Other interfaces to PHP

Regardless of how you run PHP, you can change certain values at runtime of your scripts through ini_set(). See the documentation on the ini_set() page for more information.

If you are interested in a complete list of configuration settings on your system with their current values, you can execute the phpinfo() function, and review the resulting page. You can also access the values of individual configuration directives at runtime using ini_get() or get_cfg_var().

Syntax

To specify a boolean literal, use the keywords TRUE or FALSE. Both are case-insensitive.

Typically, the result of an operator which returns a boolean value is passed on to a control structure.

Converting to boolean

To explicitly convert a value to boolean, use the (bool) or (boolean) casts. However, in most cases the cast is unnecessary, since a value will be automatically converted if an operator, function or control structure requires a boolean argument.

See also Type Juggling.

When converting to boolean, the following values are considered FALSE:

• the boolean FALSE itself
• the integer 0 (zero)
• the float 0.0 (zero)
• the empty string, and the string "0"
• an array with zero elements
• an object with zero member variables (PHP 4 only)
• the special type NULL (including unset variables)
• SimpleXML objects created from empty tags

Every other value is considered TRUE (including any resource).

Syntax

Integers can be specified in decimal (base 10), hexadecimal (base 16), octal (base 8) or binary (base 2) notation, optionally preceded by a sign (- or +).

Binary integer literals are available since PHP 5.4.0.

To use octal notation, precede the number with a 0 (zero). To use hexadecimal notation precede the number with 0x. To use binary notation precede the number with 0b.

Formally, the structure for integer literals is:

decimal     : [1-9][0-9]*
            | 0

hexadecimal : 0[xX][0-9a-fA-F]+

octal       : 0[0-7]+

binary      : 0b[01]+

integer     : [+-]?decimal
            | [+-]?hexadecimal
            | [+-]?octal
            | [+-]?binary

The size of an integer is platform-dependent, although a maximum value of about two billion is the usual value (that's 32 bits signed). 64-bit platforms usually have a maximum value of about 9E18. PHP does not support unsigned integers. Integer size can be determined using the constant PHP_INT_SIZE, and maximum value using the constant PHP_INT_MAX since PHP 4.4.0 and PHP 5.0.5.

Integer overflow

If PHP encounters a number beyond the bounds of the integer type, it will be interpreted as a float instead. Also, an operation which results in a number beyond the bounds of the integer type will return a float instead.

There is no integer division operator in PHP. 1/2 yields the float 0.5. The value can be casted to an integer to round it downwards, or the round() function provides finer control over rounding.

Converting to integer

To explicitly convert a value to integer, use either the (int) or (integer) casts. However, in most cases the cast is not needed, since a value will be automatically converted if an operator, function or control structure requires an integer argument. A value can also be converted to integer with the intval() function.

If a resource is converted to an integer, then the result will be the unique resource number assigned to the resource by PHP at runtime.

See also Type Juggling.

Converting to float

For information on converting strings to float, see String conversion to numbers. For values of other types, the conversion is performed by converting the value to integer first and then to float. See Converting to integer for more information. As of PHP 5, a notice is thrown if an object is converted to float.

Comparing floats

As noted in the warning above, testing floating point values for equality is problematic, due to the way that they are represented internally. However, there are ways to make comparisons of floating point values that work around these limitations.

To test floating point values for equality, an upper bound on the relative error due to rounding is used. This value is known as the machine epsilon, or unit roundoff, and is the smallest acceptable difference in calculations.

NaN

Some numeric operations can result in a value represented by the constant NAN. This result represents an undefined or unrepresentable value in floating-point calculations. Any loose or strict comparisons of this value against any other value, including itself, will have a result of FALSE.

Because NAN represents any number of different values, NAN should not be compared to other values, including itself, and instead should be checked for using is_nan().

Syntax

A string literal can be specified in four different ways:

• single quoted
• double quoted
• heredoc syntax
• nowdoc syntax (since PHP 5.3.0)

My name is "MyName". I am printing some Foo.
Now, I am printing some Bar2.
This should print a capital 'A': A

My name is "$name". I am printing some $foo->foo.
Now, I am printing some {$foo->bar[1]}.
This should not print a capital 'A': \x41

He drank some apple juice.
He drank some juice made of .

He drank some apple juice.
He drank some orange juice.
He drank some purple juice.
John Smith drank some apple juice.
John Smith then said hello to Jane Smith.
John Smith's wife greeted Robert Paulsen.
Robert Paulsen greeted the two .

I am bar.
I am bar.

string(1) "b"
bool(true)
string(1) "b"
bool(true)
string(1) "a"
bool(true)
string(1) "b"
bool(true)

string(1) "b"
bool(true)

Warning: Illegal string offset '1.0' in /tmp/t.php on line 7
string(1) "b"
bool(false)

Warning: Illegal string offset 'x' in /tmp/t.php on line 9
string(1) "a"
bool(false)
string(1) "b"
bool(false)

Useful functions and operators

Strings may be concatenated using the '.' (dot) operator. Note that the '+' (addition) operator will not work for this. See String operators for more information.

There are a number of useful functions for string manipulation.

See the string functions section for general functions, and the regular expression functions or the Perl-compatible regular expression functions for advanced find & replace functionality.

There are also functions for URL strings, and functions to encrypt/decrypt strings (mcrypt and mhash).

Finally, see also the character type functions.

Converting to string

A value can be converted to a string using the (string) cast or the strval() function. String conversion is automatically done in the scope of an expression where a string is needed. This happens when using the echo or print functions, or when a variable is compared to a string. The sections on Types and Type Juggling will make the following clearer. See also the settype() function.

A boolean TRUE value is converted to the string "1". Boolean FALSE is converted to "" (the empty string). This allows conversion back and forth between boolean and string values.

An integer or float is converted to a string representing the number textually (including the exponent part for floats). Floating point numbers can be converted using exponential notation (4.1E+6).

Note:

The decimal point character is defined in the script's locale (category LC_NUMERIC). See the setlocale() function.

Arrays are always converted to the string "Array"; because of this, echo and print can not by themselves show the contents of an array. To view a single element, use a construction such as echo $arr['foo']. See below for tips on viewing the entire contents.

Objects in PHP 4 are always converted to the string "Object". To print the values of object properties for debugging reasons, read the paragraphs below. To get an object's class name, use the get_class() function. As of PHP 5, the __toString method is used when applicable.

Resources are always converted to strings with the structure "Resource id #1", where 1 is the resource number assigned to the resource by PHP at runtime. While the exact structure of this string should not be relied on and is subject to change, it will always be unique for a given resource within the lifetime of a script being executed (ie a Web request or CLI process) and won't be reused. To get a resource's type, use the get_resource_type() function.

NULL is always converted to an empty string.

As stated above, directly converting an array, object, or resource to a string does not provide any useful information about the value beyond its type. See the functions print_r() and var_dump() for more effective means of inspecting the contents of these types.

Most PHP values can also be converted to strings for permanent storage. This method is called serialization, and is performed by the serialize() function. If the PHP engine was built with WDDX support, PHP values can also be serialized as well-formed XML text.

String conversion to numbers

When a string is evaluated in a numeric context, the resulting value and type are determined as follows.

If the string does not contain any of the characters '.', 'e', or 'E' and the numeric value fits into integer type limits (as defined by PHP_INT_MAX), the string will be evaluated as an integer. In all other cases it will be evaluated as a float.

The value is given by the initial portion of the string. If the string starts with valid numeric data, this will be the value used. Otherwise, the value will be 0 (zero). Valid numeric data is an optional sign, followed by one or more digits (optionally containing a decimal point), followed by an optional exponent. The exponent is an 'e' or 'E' followed by one or more digits.

For more information on this conversion, see the Unix manual page for strtod(3).

To test any of the examples in this section, cut and paste the examples and insert the following line to see what's going on:

Do not expect to get the code of one character by converting it to integer, as is done in C. Use the ord() and chr() functions to convert between ASCII codes and characters.

Details of the String Type

The string in PHP is implemented as an array of bytes and an integer indicating the length of the buffer. It has no information about how those bytes translate to characters, leaving that task to the programmer. There are no limitations on the values the string can be composed of; in particular, bytes with value 0 (“NUL bytes”) are allowed anywhere in the string (however, a few functions, said in this manual not to be “binary safe”, may hand off the strings to libraries that ignore data after a NUL byte.)

This nature of the string type explains why there is no separate “byte” type in PHP – strings take this role. Functions that return no textual data – for instance, arbitrary data read from a network socket – will still return strings.

Given that PHP does not dictate a specific encoding for strings, one might wonder how string literals are encoded. For instance, is the string "á" equivalent to "\xE1" (ISO-8859-1), "\xC3\xA1" (UTF-8, C form), "\x61\xCC\x81" (UTF-8, D form) or any other possible representation? The answer is that string will be encoded in whatever fashion it is encoded in the script file. Thus, if the script is written in ISO-8859-1, the string will be encoded in ISO-8859-1 and so on. However, this does not apply if Zend Multibyte is enabled; in that case, the script may be written in an arbitrary encoding (which is explicity declared or is detected) and then converted to a certain internal encoding, which is then the encoding that will be used for the string literals. Note that there are some constraints on the encoding of the script (or on the internal encoding, should Zend Multibyte be enabled) – this almost always means that this encoding should be a compatible superset of ASCII, such as UTF-8 or ISO-8859-1. Note, however, that state-dependent encodings where the same byte values can be used in initial and non-initial shift states may be problematic.

Of course, in order to be useful, functions that operate on text may have to make some assumptions about how the string is encoded. Unfortunately, there is much variation on this matter throughout PHP’s functions:

• Some functions assume that the string is encoded in some (any) single-byte encoding, but they do not need to interpret those bytes as specific characters. This is case of, for instance, substr(), strpos(), strlen() or strcmp(). Another way to think of these functions is that operate on memory buffers, i.e., they work with bytes and byte offsets.
• Other functions are passed the encoding of the string, possibly they also assume a default if no such information is given. This is the case of htmlentities() and the majority of the functions in the mbstring extension.
• Others use the current locale (see setlocale()), but operate byte-by-byte. This is the case of strcasecmp(), strtoupper() and ucfirst(). This means they can be used only with single-byte encodings, as long as the encoding is matched by the locale. For instance strtoupper("á") may return "Á" if the locale is correctly set and á is encoded with a single byte. If it is encoded in UTF-8, the correct result will not be returned and the resulting string may or may not be returned corrupted, depending on the current locale.
• Finally, they may just assume the string is using a specific encoding, usually UTF-8. This is the case of most functions in the intl extension and in the PCRE extension (in the last case, only when the u modifier is used). Although this is due to their special purpose, the function utf8_decode() assumes a UTF-8 encoding and the function utf8_encode() assumes an ISO-8859-1 encoding.

Ultimately, this means writing correct programs using Unicode depends on carefully avoiding functions that will not work and that most likely will corrupt the data and using instead the functions that do behave correctly, generally from the intl and mbstring extensions. However, using functions that can handle Unicode encodings is just the beginning. No matter the functions the language provides, it is essential to know the Unicode specification. For instance, a program that assumes there is only uppercase and lowercase is making a wrong assumption.

Syntax

array(
    key  => value,
    key2 => value2,
    key3 => value3,
    ...
)

array(1) {
  [1]=>
  string(1) "d"
}

array(4) {
  ["foo"]=>
  string(3) "bar"
  ["bar"]=>
  string(3) "foo"
  [100]=>
  int(-100)
  [-100]=>
  int(100)
}

array(4) {
  [0]=>
  string(3) "foo"
  [1]=>
  string(3) "bar"
  [2]=>
  string(5) "hello"
  [3]=>
  string(5) "world"
}

array(4) {
  [0]=>
  string(1) "a"
  [1]=>
  string(1) "b"
  [6]=>
  string(1) "c"
  [7]=>
  string(1) "d"
}

string(3) "bar"
int(24)
string(3) "foo"

$arr[key] = value;
$arr[] = value;
// key may be an integer or string
// value may be any value of any type

Useful functions

There are quite a few useful functions for working with arrays. See the array functions section.

Note:

The unset() function allows removing keys from an array. Be aware that the array will not be reindexed. If a true "remove and shift" behavior is desired, the array can be reindexed using the array_values() function.

<?php
$a = array(1 => 'one', 2 => 'two', 3 => 'three');
unset($a[2]);
/* will produce an array that would have been defined as
   $a = array(1 => 'one', 3 => 'three');
   and NOT
   $a = array(1 => 'one', 2 =>'three');
*/

$b = array_values($a);
// Now $b is array(0 => 'one', 1 =>'three')
?>

The foreach control structure exists specifically for arrays. It provides an easy way to traverse an array.

Array do's and don'ts