Category: Notes (Page 1 of 45)

TL;DR: $argv is an array of arguments passed to the script with the first index being the name of the script itself. And $argc is the number of arguments passed to the the script (which will always at least be 1).

Arguably, pun intended, one of the key pieces of command-line application is making sure that they are interactive through command-line arguments. In PHP, there are two variables to understand:

• $argc is the number of arguments passed to script. Note the script’s filename is always passed as an argument to the script, therefore the minimum value of $argc is 1.
• $argv is an array of arguments passed to script. Note the first argument $argv[0] is always the name that was used to run the script.

TL;DR: I’ve been writing PHP command-line scripts to help automate mundane tasks. As these tasks are growing in complexity or turning more into applications that interface with third-party APIs, I’m documenting the things I find important that others may also find helpful.

There are three things necessary to get a basic script up and running on your local machine (assuming you already have PHP installed):

1. Know the path to the PHP binary,
2. Make sure your script references said binary,
3. And make the script executable.