Built-in web serverAs of PHP 5.4.0, the CLI SAPI provides a built-in web server. This web server is designed for developmental purposes only, and should not be used in production. Requests are served sequentially. URI requests are served from the current working directory where PHP was started, unless the -t option is used to specify an explicit document root. If a URI request does not specify a file, then either index.php or index.html in the given directory are returned. If neither file exists, then a 404 response code is returned.
If a PHP file is given on the command line when the web server is
started it is treated as a "router" script. The script is run at
the start of each HTTP request. If this script returns Standard MIME types are returned for files with extensions: .css, .gif, .htm, .html, .jpe, .jpeg, .jpg, .js, .png, .svg, and .txt. The .htm and .svg extensions are recognized from PHP 5.4.4 onwards. Example #1 Starting the web server $ cd ~/public_html $ php -S localhost:8000 The terminal will show: PHP 5.4.0 Development Server started at Thu Jul 21 10:43:28 2011 Listening on localhost:8000 Document root is /home/me/public_html Press Ctrl-C to quit After URI requests for http://localhost:8000/ and http://localhost:8000/myscript.html the terminal will show something similar to: PHP 5.4.0 Development Server started at Thu Jul 21 10:43:28 2011 Listening on localhost:8000 Document root is /home/me/public_html Press Ctrl-C to quit. [Thu Jul 21 10:48:48 2011] ::1:39144 GET /favicon.ico - Request read [Thu Jul 21 10:48:50 2011] ::1:39146 GET / - Request read [Thu Jul 21 10:48:50 2011] ::1:39147 GET /favicon.ico - Request read [Thu Jul 21 10:48:52 2011] ::1:39148 GET /myscript.html - Request read [Thu Jul 21 10:48:52 2011] ::1:39149 GET /favicon.ico - Request read Example #2 Starting with a specific document root directory $ cd ~/public_html $ php -S localhost:8000 -t foo/ The terminal will show: PHP 5.4.0 Development Server started at Thu Jul 21 10:50:26 2011 Listening on localhost:8000 Document root is /home/me/public_html/foo Press Ctrl-C to quit Example #3 Using a Router Script In this example, requests for images will display them, but requests for HTML files will display "Welcome to PHP":
<?php $ php -S localhost:8000 router.php Example #4 Checking for CLI Web Server Use To reuse a framework router script during development with the CLI web server and later also with a production web server:
<?php $ php -S localhost:8000 router.php Example #5 Handling Unsupported File Types If you need to serve a static resource whose MIME type is not handled by the CLI web server, use:
<?php $ php -S localhost:8000 router.php Example #6 Accessing the CLI Web Server From Remote Machines You can make the web server accessible on port 8000 to any interface with: $ php -S 0.0.0.0:8000 |