PHP Memory limit not taking effect in normal php scripts

Question

I've assigned the memory limit of php to 999m so it appears in phpinfo like

memory_limit 999M 999M

when I use phpinfo(); to show it.

Unfortunately when I try to run a fairly large script, it seems like the limit is 256M

Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 268435456 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 40 bytes) in /xxx/wp-includes/wp-db.php on line 1403

Anyone have any ideas why or what I can do to increase the limit (and have it actually work)

If it helps I'm running centos5 32bit and with php running in fcgi mode

You edited the correct `php.ini`? (See `phpinfo()`, or `php -i` (note, that the different sapis (apache-module, `cgi`, `cli`, ...) use different `php.inis`)) You restarted your server? You ever thought about, why your scripts requires sooo much memory?! — KingCrunch, Apr 03 '12 at 20:33
`memory_limit 999M 999M` - surely you meant `memory_limit 999M` — d_inevitable, Apr 03 '12 at 20:33
isn't your WordPress installation setting its own memory limit via `ini_set('memory_limit', ...)` ? — kuba, Apr 03 '12 at 20:35
how about optimising the script, you shouldn't need that much memory. — , Apr 03 '12 at 20:36
Yeah I did edit the correct php.ini, it shows fine in phpinfo — Darrell Ding, Apr 03 '12 at 20:37
@d_inevitable Yeah that was the output from phpinfo in php.ini its set to memory_limit 999M — Darrell Ding, Apr 03 '12 at 20:38
@Dagon That's not an option, its wordpress, I can't optimize it since I have truckload of post metas used. — Darrell Ding, Apr 03 '12 at 20:39
I don't know what version of php your using, but prior to PHP 5.2.1, in order to use this directive it had to be enabled at compile time by using --enable-memory-limit in the configure line. (From the php manual http://www.php.net/manual/en/ini.core.php#ini.memory-limit) — ArendE, Apr 03 '12 at 20:45
Is this VPS or shared host? If so perhaps that is the physical limit or the upper limit set by your provider? — d_inevitable, Apr 03 '12 at 20:54
I did not see if you were running php-fpm. But if you are/were then you should check your fpm pool to see if it is set there. I ran into this where the pool file had `php_admin_value[memory_limit]=32M` — john, Jun 13 '17 at 09:56

score 14 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 27 '13 at 10:00

14

I had a similar issue, for me it was an extra ini file that was loaded called "99-liip-developer.ini". At the top of the file the memory_limit was defined at 265M, which overwrote the memory_limit defined in php.ini.

Hope this helps anyone.

answered Aug 27 '13 at 10:00

Barry Kooij

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Found a file called www.conf in /etc/nginx/fpm/pool.d. I would have never even thought to look there. – serialworm Dec 12 '13 at 15:47
Thank you! :) This was driving me crazy – Adam Elsodaney Jul 26 '14 at 20:30
Maybe also look for /usr/local/lib/php.ini or /usr/local/php/lib/php.ini – iforce2d Aug 19 '19 at 16:08
THANK YOU! This also drove me crazy :D – James Jul 30 '20 at 21:13
In phpinfo() output there is "Additional .ini files parsed" key. – wesamly Sep 22 '20 at 08:19

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 02 '20 at 11:54

Type php --ini to find the configuration paths.

Change memory_limit to whatever value you need. Make sure that you are changing it on both these files: php.ini and conf.d/php-memory-limits.ini

(in my case, I use -1 to have unlimited memory (of course, not unlimited but as much as my computer can handle))

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 03 '12 at 20:40

2

I suggest you set this on the top of your script:

 ini_set("memory_limit","512M");

in the script that is consuming so much of your memory instead of allowing all scripts to consume so much memory. You can also put this in the .htaccess of your /wp-includes/

 php_value memory_limit 512M

More information and explanation here: http://www.mydigitallife.info/php-allowed-memory-size-exchausted-fatal-error/

answered Apr 03 '12 at 20:40

ArendE

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Its already been set under /etc/php.ini so the limit is high enough, just wondering why it doesn't take effect in the script but the limit is shown under a phpinfo – Darrell Ding Apr 03 '12 at 20:45
Because it can be overruled by wordpress in the wp-config.php file. – ArendE Apr 03 '12 at 20:47
By using `define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '64M');` in that file for example. – ArendE Apr 03 '12 at 20:49
Its not, already has both ini_set('memory_limit', '999M'); define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '999M'); defined inside wp-config.php – Darrell Ding Apr 03 '12 at 20:52
Well, it's very simple, there is still a limit somewhere. This could be set by your webhost, in some file, .htaccess etc. I suggest you try using all options to override the memory_limit without asking why it won't work as you want it or should be. Also look at the same question here http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3903363/allowed-memory-size-of-268435456-bytes-exhausted maybe it could be of some use :) – ArendE Apr 03 '12 at 21:02

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Apr 03 '12 at 20:40

0

You can try putting this at the top of your file

ini_set('memory_limit', '999M')

How much system memory do you have available? Did you restart Apache after editing your php.ini file (I assume you have php installed as a module)?

Try:

sudo /etc/init.d/httpd restart

answered Apr 03 '12 at 20:40

Matthew Blancarte

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I've already tried that it still maxes out at 256 for some vague reason – Darrell Ding Apr 03 '12 at 20:44
Did you restart apache? The code in your php.ini was invalid, too... Are you sure you don't have a second setting in your php.ini that is overwriting your custom line? Check for that, too... – Matthew Blancarte Apr 03 '12 at 20:47
it shows memory limit 999m in phpinfo so that isn't the issue right now, I'm just wondering how come it doesn't work in wordpress. Wordpress's wp-config has been set to use up to 999 as well – Darrell Ding Apr 03 '12 at 20:54
1

Did... you... restart... apache? – Matthew Blancarte Apr 03 '12 at 20:59
Who manages your server? How much memory is currently available if you run "free -m" via the command line? – Matthew Blancarte Apr 03 '12 at 21:01
total used free shared buffers cached Mem: 2025 1925 99 0 25 1381 -/+ buffers/cache: 518 1506 Swap: 4094 369 3725 – Darrell Ding Apr 03 '12 at 21:03
well, time to reinstall php lol... Seriously, though, this is quite odd. Try restarting apache again and see if it takes hold. Very very weird... – Matthew Blancarte Apr 03 '12 at 21:07

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Apr 03 '12 at 20:55

0

Unsure, but this came up in the google search for me:

http://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-cbnet-ping-optimizer-lots-of-errors-on-ping-optimizer-_help-please

The ping optimizer was cramming a table full on the DB and clearing solved the problem. The error was almost the same:

Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 268435456 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 80 bytes) in /home/user1/public_html/domain/wp-includes/wp-db.php on line 1400

So see if a plugin is doing the same, then clear it and log it on WP somewhere so it can be fixed if that is the problem.

answered Apr 03 '12 at 20:55

craniumonempty

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My problem is that I'm unable to increase the memory limit no matter what I do, not so much that I'm having an error – Darrell Ding Apr 03 '12 at 20:58
@DarrellDing are you using any plugins like Memory Bump? You might want to check the setting there as well. Look all the way down the line: php.ini (and local php.ini if there are multiple), .htaccess, and search the php files for changes as well. Check with a small script to the side (just a quick script not in wordpress) to see if the php.ini and/or .htaccess files set it properly using `ini_get('memory_limit')` to check it. – craniumonempty Apr 03 '12 at 21:09

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 03 '12 at 21:03

0

Create a php file called test.php, put inside:

<?php
phpinfo();
?>

Check for "Configuration File (php.ini) Path" and "Loaded Configuration File" to see the correct php.ini path. Edit php.ini and search for memory_limit and set it to:

memory_limit = 999M

Check if you have more than one occurrency of memory_limit into the php.ini file. In the case, delete it.

Stop apache, and then restart it (apachectl restart | apachectl graceful | kill -1 are not ok. Stop, then start).

Recheck test.php to see if the new parameter got acquired.

answered Apr 03 '12 at 21:03

dAm2K

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The parameter is acquired, just doesn't work in wordpress, there isn't any overrides, did a grep with for ini_set and nada – Darrell Ding Apr 03 '12 at 21:16
@DarrellDing you should grep php_value if you want to see if it's set in apache somewhere as well. – craniumonempty Apr 03 '12 at 21:21
My wordpress version (3.1.2) defines a file called wp-includes/default-constants.php that create a constant called WP_MEMORY_LIMIT. You can ovveride its value into wp-settings.php. Wordpress overwrite the php memory limit value setted into php.ini if it's smaller than the value you define with WP_MEMORY_LIMIT. – dAm2K Apr 03 '12 at 21:36
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Fixed, it wasn't WP_MEMORY_LIMIT, apparently wordpress uses WP_MAX_MEMORY_LIMIT as their admin max limit. – Darrell Ding Apr 03 '12 at 21:40
1

Was the closest I got to an answer – Darrell Ding Apr 03 '12 at 22:09

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Oct 21 '13 at 09:35

Make sure you server/virtual server in apache is not configured to overwrite PHP configuration. Even if you use:

php_value memory_limit 512M

Your server may have something like:

php_value memory_limit 32M

which will make your changes in php.ini useless. To fix this:

Either edit the php_value value in your server configuration.
Or remove it from your web server, so it uses PHP global settings.

PHP Memory limit not taking effect in normal php scripts

7 Answers7