Windows does not support the shebang
syntax like Linux does.
To configure the .php
file extension association to open with the PHP executable.
- right click a
.php
file (or any file extension you want to associate with php.exe)
- click
Open With
- Select
More Apps
- scroll to the bottom
Choose another app
- Select
Look for another app on this PC
- Navigate to the
php.exe
executable and select it
- Check the
Always use this app to open .php files
- click Ok
Afterward you can open up a command prompt (cmd
) and have php execute .php
files by path without needing to prefix php.
You can also execute a .php
file by double clicking them (though the PHP terminal will not stay opened after executing unless you add sleep
just like a .bat
file functions).
I used .php3
as an example since I have .php
configured to open
with my IDE.
d:\test.php3
<?php
echo 'Hello World';
To make the .php
file extension an executable like in linux with chmod 0111
. You would have to append ;.PHP
to the PATHEXT
Windows Environment Variable.

To make it the file globally accessible, append the directory the .php
file is located in to your PATH
Windows Environment Variable. Otherwise move the .php
file to a directory already listed in your PATH
Windows Environment Variable, such as C:\Windows
or C:\Windows\System32
To initialize the new environment variable, either launch a new command prompt (cmd
) as Administrator and close it or reboot.

Alternatively create a C:\Windows\Jimboo.bat
file that contains.
@echo off
"X:\path\to\php.exe" "X:\path\to\index.php"
This will then execute the desired file in a command prompt by typing Jimboo
.
