Is there any way to test PHP locally without installing a server? [duplicate]

Question

I'm looking for something like http://phpfiddle.org/, but completely local. I don't want to commit to installing something as complex as Apache, then PHP on top of that, just to try out code when I'm offline. Is there anything that can run PHP 5.5 on the local machine without installing an entire server underneath it?

Racehorse

php.net/manual/en/features.commandline.webserver.php ? – Melton

uniformserver.com - runs on a flash drive – Fascista

You can test your php program by PHP CLI. – Thingumajig

The purpose of / and reason for using a complete server is to get as close to a production environment as possible so you're sure in the end that your code works in the real world. Without Apache there to toss out request errors you'll be handicapped as far as debugging. – Erstwhile

Using VirtualBox to run a VM that replicates the production environment and versions on your local development box is pretty common practise these days: it allows you to run PHP , MySQL, etc in a sandbox on your development machine – Interclavicle

Answer 1

There's no need for a server if using PHP 5.5+ - it has a built-in server (http://www.php.net/manual/en/features.commandline.webserver.php)

Just use:

$ cd ~/public_html
$ php -S localhost:8000

Shipyard

is this the same on Windows? – Racehorse

Yes , you just need to install php on your system and the server is bundled with php 5.5+ – Shipyard

fyi, PHP 5.4+ has it - well it does here. – Phenocryst

This worked well for me on Mac, thanks! I'm also looking for a solution to run WordPress locally without installing MAMP or XAMPP. Admin rights required at work to install software, and IT is outsourced/offsite and difficult to work with. Is there such thing as a portable MySQL? – Skewness

Portable sql = sqlite - but wordpress doesn't work on it as far as I know. This is just for testing scripts and other simple stuff - it's not a fully fledged server – Shipyard

Just use Ctrl-C to stop it afterwards. – Nonunionism

Answer 2

As a minimalistic solution, on the command line you can also start php in interactive shell with php -a that will execute the commands you enter line by line. I often use it for testing small snippets of code.

Hands

I did this in XAMPP but it wouldn't run anything I typed – Racehorse

Wow, that's odd. What happens when you type echo "Hello\n"; and then ENTER? – Hands

It creates a blank new line after echo "Hello\n"; and then does nothing. If I press Ctrl+C, it re-prints all the code I typed, but doesn't run any of it, and brings me back to the general shell – Racehorse

You're right, it seems it doesn't work properly on windows. See: #17362709 – Hands

Oh do I have to type the <?? – Racehorse

Unfortunately I don't know, I'm not using windows. On Linux/OSX I don't have to – Hands

Answer 3

You can download a portable webserver http://www.usbwebserver.net/en/ and use this script under it https://github.com/websiteduck/Run-PHP-Code

Blat

Answer 4

You can install either XAMPP or WAMP server locally if you find it complicated to configure PHP for Apache.

Toughie

Alright, I have XAMPP running and got the shell open, but when I use php -a for the interactive shell, nothing I type does anything :/ – Racehorse

Answer 5

You should try phpsh as well. It is a php interactive shell from the facebook developer folks with history, tab completion and quick access to documentation.

The project is maintained on github.

Hands

Answer 6

Use psysh which is a wonderful tool for the purpose you described.

If your project is on Laravel, then it's "built in", as tinker, so you can invoke it as php artisan tinker.

Hands

Answer 7

For Windows Users:

Check out the ezPHP GitHub project. Per the project description...

EzPHP is an alternative to Xamp/Wamp. EzPHP is the easiest way to setup a PHP development environment for learning PHP programming on Windows.

The scope of this project is to provide a single .exe file that will get you a PHP developing server.

Link - https://github.com/marcomilon/ezphp

Setting it up was simple. Download the exphp.exe file and drop it in a folder. When you run the exe, it will launch the server and generate a public_html folder and index.php file. Follow the instructions in the command window and navigate to http://localhost:8080. Now you can start developing in the public_html folder and refresh your browser to see your changes.

Firebrat

The linked site does not have the exphp.exe file. Where or how can it be downloaded? – Incommodity

Answer 8

This is what I do for simple pages:

• Download php in zip and extract (PHP 8.0.2 ~25MB)

• Then run

  > php.exe path\to\your\index.php>path\to\the\output\index.html
  

• Open the result index.html with your favorite browser

You have to find a workaround for your _GETs though.

Silicify

Answer 9

I really dont think so. but it isnt so complex as you think.

if you are on windows - just download: http://www.wampserver.com/ - it will install the whole server for you (mysql&phpmyadmin,php5).

on linux - got to google: install lamp to [your-linux] -- and follow the simple instructions

Jennie

Answer 10

If you use a development environment, like Aptana Studio, you might as well click on the Run As, and run it in your preferred browser. You need WAMP/XAMPP to be installed and running in order to do so.

Katharynkathe