How to change the path to php.ini in PHP CLI version

Question

The php that run on the webserver and the CLI version is not using the same php.ini file. If I do a command php --ini, it show this

Configuration File (php.ini) Path: C:\Windows
Loaded Configuration File:         C:\wamp\bin\php\php5.3.8\php.ini
Scan for additional .ini files in: (none)
Additional .ini files parsed:      (none)

while my web version uses the php.ini in C:\wamp\bin\apache\Apache2.2.21\bin\php.ini. This is probably very common for people using wamp.

How do I change the Loaded Configuration File to read from C:\wamp\bin\apache\Apache2.2.21\bin\php.ini so I don't have to maintain 2 different php.ini versions?

score 28 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

Per http://php.net/configuration.file:

php.ini is searched for in these locations (in order):

SAPI module specific location (PHPIniDir directive in Apache 2, -c command line option in CGI and CLI, php_ini parameter in NSAPI, PHP_INI_PATH environment variable in THTTPD)

The PHPRC environment variable. Before PHP 5.2.0, this was checked after the registry key mentioned below.

As of PHP 5.2.0, the location of the php.ini file can be set for different versions of PHP. The following registry keys are examined in order:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\PHP\x.y.z], [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\PHP\x.y] and [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\PHP\x], where x, y and z mean the PHP major, minor and release versions. If there is a value for IniFilePath in any of these keys, the first one found will be used as the location of the php.ini (Windows only).

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\PHP], value of IniFilePath (Windows only).

Current working directory (except CLI).

The web server's directory (for SAPI modules), or directory of PHP (otherwise in Windows).

Windows directory (C:\windows or C:\winnt) (for Windows), or --with-config-file-path compile time option.

For CLI, your best bet is probably either to set the $PHPRC environment variable for the account that will be executing scripts, or recompile PHP with a different --with-config-file-path configuration setting.

You can also override the php.ini search dir on a per-execution basis by specifying the -c option when invoking PHP:

> php --help
Usage: php [options] [-f]  [--] [args...]
...
  -c | Look for php.ini file in this directory

so, it's a windows machine running wamp. How do I set the $PHPRC? — Sufendy, Jun 01 '12 at 06:01
it's just an environment variable, google for 'set environment variable windows' should give tutorials. — goat, Jun 01 '12 at 06:46

score 16 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 15 '14 at 17:23

16

By specifying environment variable PHPRC to point to the same php.ini as the one Apache uses worked for me on Ubuntu

export PHPRC=/etc/php5/apache2/php.ini

Or put it in the $HOME/.bashrc to import every time cli is started

answered Oct 15 '14 at 17:23

latvian

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When I did this, it worked the first time but when I needed to change it again I had to remove the `/php.ini` part and just use the path to get it to work. – Stack Underflow Jun 24 '19 at 22:17
If I set the same php.ini for both CLI and normal PHP, then I get alot of "dynamic file could not get loaded" errors when I execute `php -i` – Black Sep 24 '20 at 13:59

Benson · Answer 3 · 2020-06-05T03:10:14.477

7

I tried and failed with using C:\YourPathto\PHP7\ as my PHPRC Environmental Variable. But it must be set to the full path with filename. I also found that I had to do a full restart for php to pick up the new variable.

On Windows, find the path to your php.ini file and modify and run the following command in a command window:

setx PHPRC "C:\YourPathto\PHP7\php.ini"

You should see SUCCESS: Specified value was saved.
Then restart your computer (really).

Or edit environmental variables through the regular way, then restart:

$PHPRC Environmental Variable Set to C:\YourPathto\PHP7\php.ini$

edited Jun 05 '20 at 03:10

answered Nov 01 '19 at 05:30

Benson

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Perfect I use mamp, it used some weird path for the php.ini and aliased it to use the config but it didn't work in composer scripts now it does thanks to that environment variable! – Steve Moretz Dec 13 '22 at 13:04

score 2 · Answer 4 · answered Jun 15 '12 at 22:00

2

I have spent about 3 hours trying to do exactly what your question asks. Couldn't do it. I gave up and copied that php.ini to C:\Windows and changed my ENV variable "PHPRC" to C:\Windows (and in httpd.conf). That way both my CLI php and Apach php e are using the same file. I could not get "php -m" to display the modules I had loaded in my php.ini for the life of me until I made this change...

answered Jun 15 '12 at 22:00

Andrew

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This was the key for me. I actually removed the PHPRC environment variable and rebooted and php defaulted to looking in the same path as the current working directory. Thanks! – AS7K Nov 01 '17 at 14:17

Peter Kotian · Answer 5 · 2022-07-21T09:04:30.387

1

set "PHPRC=C:\YourPathto\PHP7\php.ini"

Important the quotes start before PHPRC. See Dealing with quotes in Windows batch scripts

edited Jul 21 '22 at 09:04

answered Jul 18 '22 at 05:57

Peter Kotian

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Please add code block like it's explain here : https://meta.stackexchange.com/a/22189/1213575 – vinceAmstoutz Jul 19 '22 at 12:02
You're the hero we need but don't deserve. On windows, this is what gets it to finally work. – Ali Dec 27 '22 at 16:25

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Jun 01 '12 at 05:14

0

try running the phpinfo() function on both side

Webserver and CLI and find out the exact location of your php.ini file for both side

and maintain those files only

answered Jun 01 '12 at 05:14

maxjackie

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I already know the both files locations. The question is how to unify them. – Sufendy Jun 01 '12 at 05:16

How to change the path to php.ini in PHP CLI version

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