2021 Update
The instructions in this blog post contain outdated paths and file names.
To learn the modern way to “save your fingers”—plus additional tips for setting up PHP on IBM i—refer to these two articles in our PHP Documentation library.
In Batch PHP I showed how to call PHP from a command line. For example, with Zend Server 6 or 7 on IBM i, one would launch a PASE command line using the command CALL QP2TERM, or launch QShell using QSH, then type a command such as this:
/usr/local/zendsvr6/bin/php-cli myscript.php
For those of us who use PHP-CLI often, the above command can be a finger-buster. Let’s shorten the path by creating a symbolic link:
cd /usr/bin
ln -s /usr/local/zendsvr6/bin/php-cli phpc
I created the symbolic link in /usr/bin, a directory that is likely to be in any user’s path.
Now try the shortened command:
phpc myscript.php
To test the shortcut without a PHP script, use the -v switch, which requests version information (‘v’ for version) about your PHP installation.
phpc -v
The above command will return version information that starts out something like this:
PHP 5.3.6 (cli) (built: Apr 7 2011 09:37:14)
Copyright (c) 1997-2011 The PHP Group
Zend Engine v2.3.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2011 Zend Technologies
with Zend Extension Manager v5.1, Copyright (c) 2003-2010, by Zend Techno
logies
- with Zend Data Cache v4.0, Copyright (c) 2004-2010, by Zend Technologie
s [loaded] [licensed] [disabled]
- with Zend Guard Loader v3.3, Copyright (c) 1998-2010, by Zend Technolog
ies [loaded] [licensed] [enabled]
- with Zend Job Queue v4.0, Copyright (c) 2004-2010, by Zend Technologies
[loaded] [not licensed] [disabled]
By creating a symbolic link to the PHP-CLI binary, practitioners of PHP can speed their work while saving their fingers.
For more about symbolic links, see my article Link up with QShell.
Visual Studio Code is an IDE and platform for developers to write backend, progressive web apps, frontend, and everything on the spectrum of development. I have created an extension for VS Code, called Code for IBM i, that allows users to work on and maintain their IBM i code. VS Code is the best IDE for extensibility, which is why I wanted to take on such a task.
