How can I compile a LESS string using lessc

Question

Here is an example of how to compile a file:

$lines = [];
exec("lessc $file", $lines, $status);
$output = implode("", $lines);

I would like to compile just a string ideally without creating a temporary file, writing to it, and then calling exec to compile that file. My unix skills aren't that great so I tried variations of this which doesn't work:

$lines = [];
exec("lessc < \"$string\"", $lines, $status);
$output = implode("", $lines);

You should probably check this out: http://leafo.net/lessphp/ — pNre, Aug 10 '14 at 10:45
You need to substitute the filename parameter then certainly, if not with `-` then `/dev/stdin`. Also either escape the $string properly, or use proc_open. — mario, Aug 10 '14 at 10:46
@pNre I'd rather trust the official binary keeping up with the current version of LESS. LessPHP doesn't even indicate which version of LESS it supports, with their last commit 4 months ago, and 166 open issues. Good suggestion though, it would have been perfect if it was actively maintained. — rtheunissen, Aug 10 '14 at 11:20

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:34

If you run lessc --help in the console, you will that:

usage: lessc [option option=parameter ...] [destination]

If source is set to `-' (dash or hyphen-minus), input is read from stdin.

The above enable you to run for instance (see also: Send string to stdin):

echo "@color:red; p{color:@color;}" | lessc -

or

lessc - <<< "@color:red; p{color:@color;}"

And indeed less.php can:

$parser = new Less_Parser();
$parser->parse( '@color: #4D926F; #header { color: @color; } h2 { color: @color; }' );
$css = $parser->getCss();

How can I compile a LESS string using lessc

1 Answers1