How to run a scheduled job scripted in php using windows? I'm using Windows XP sp3.
Use at or the task scheduler.
How To Use the AT Command to Schedule Tasks (seems to require login now - wtf?)
Alternative: Wikipedia on AT
How To Schedule Tasks in Windows XP
You would have to call the PHP interpreter from the command line. In Windows, it is called php.exe. You'll have to find out where it resides, usually in the Programs folder or a sub-directory of your server installation.
The command line for the call will then be something like
"C:\Program Files\Xampp\PHP\PHP.exe" -f "c:\htdocs\my_script_to_run.php"
Note that PHP will probably use a different php.ini file when called this way, and some variables (like $_SERVER["HTTP_HOST"]) are not available. This way of running PHP is called CLI (Command Line Interface).
To determine within a PHP script whether it is being run on the Web server or from the command line, use php_sapi_name().
Note that PHP will probably use a different php.ini file when called this way, and some variables (like $_SERVER["HTTP_HOST"]) are not available. This way of running PHP is called CLI (Command Line Interface).
Related
Let's say I have an executable PHP file that is usually run like this:
php somefile -d someParameter --verbose
How can I run this file using an existing PHP script? I am not looking into doing shell_exec('php somefile -d someParamter --verbose') since many webhosts disallow the use of shell_exec.
I am thinking something like using require('somefile') and then magically passing in the parameters needed for the command to run.
If your hosting does not allow shell_exec nor exec then you cannot run any external binaries. And it's always common practice to sandbox vhost content so if they would not block shell_exec/exec you may be hosted from noexec mounted volume anyway, so sidede "loaded" binaries would not work either. If you need to run 3rd party binaries, VPS is the way to go, not shared hosting.
I'm trying to open a Windows program from PHP using exec() on a local machine. Is it possible to start a system program (on Windows 10 if it's relevant) that runs in the foreground using PHPs exec function?
This line:
exec("C:/Windows/notepad.exe 2>&1");
Causes Microsoft's Notepad to open in the background (verified it is actually running using task manager) but I have no access to it, i.e., it doesn't open a window. How do I get it to run in the foreground so I can actually see it and interact with it?
So this seems like an utter ball ache to achieve using exec() for your average coder. There's another way to achieve this result: Have PHP generate .bat files using file_put_contents() with instructions to open a given file path and then auto-delete itself, like so:
#echo off
Start "" "C:\Path\To\File\SomeFile.txt"
del %0
This method requires some kind of task scheduler to monitor a given folder and execute the batch files as they come in. I believe PowerShell can do this, and possibly the Windows Task Scheduler. I think Linux has Cron.
I'm looking for some advice.
Rignt now i've got a bunch of php scripts that i've scheduled through cron. They run on my local machine doing stuff like pulling stuff out of a mysql db and sending automated emails. To run them I just have something like this in crontab: 0 7 * * 1 /usr/bin/php /phpscripts/script.php
I need to migrate all of those scripts to a Windows machine. I'm planning to use the Windows Task Scheduler to run the scripts, but how can I run the actual php scripts locally? From what I understand you need something like xampp to run the apache server? I guess what I need is a Windows equivalent of /usr/bin/php in crontab.
Installing PHP
You don't have to install xammp, you can install PHP alone, have a look ate the windows PHP installation guide:
Windows Installer (PHP 5.1.0 and earlier)
Windows Installer (PHP 5.2 and later)
Manual Installation Steps
If you prefer installing XAMP, you can run PHP script after locating the php.exe with the -f flag:
C:\Xampp\php\php.exe -f C:\Xampp\htdocs\my_script.php
Running the PHP file
After you have PHP installed, check Command Line PHP on Microsoft Windows manual for information on how to run the script. On the page there is explanation of how to make the php file executable, so you could run it as:
"C:\PHP Scripts\script" -arg1 -arg2 -arg3
Make sure you are using an administrative account to run the command. Otherwise you might have permissions problems. more info at the Introduction to using PHP on the command line
Scheduling the task
Go to Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Scheduled Tasks,
Right-click on an empty spot in the Scheduled Task window and select New -> Scheduled Task (Also accessible via File -> New -> Scheduled Task)
Name the new task (How about "Bill"? He looks like a Bill, doesn't he? "Mr. B. Evolution, II" It sounds so regal.)
Double-click the new task to open the properties window (or File -> Properties)
Under the Task tab, enter the same command that you used to test the script above. For instance, I would enter:
C:\PHP\php.exe "C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\blogs\cron\cron_exec.php"
Go to the Schedule tab and enter when and how often the task should run. The schedule defaults to run once daily and should be fine for basic usage, but feel free to tweak as needed.
The rest of the fields can be left as-is, unless you're an ace and know what you're doing.
Click OK and we're done!
for more info have a look at setting up a window scheduled task.
Set up your task to run when you want it (times and all that)
and pop this into the command:
C:\Path\to\php.exe -f "C:\Path\to\file.php"
Edit: you can also set a second php.ini to be run used when the CLI is used to run a file, which has no constraints on max execution time and the like. Very handy difference and better suited to running (potentially) long execution scripts.
You can do this by creating a php-cgi.ini file in your PHP folder where your php.ini file resides. This will be used automatically when a PHP file is executed from the CLI (this is how scheduled tasks are run).
Also note that Windows Scheduler will simply end on an error that causes your script to fall over, so running some extra logging might be a good idea in case your scripts exit early.
I got the 140dev Twitter framework (which uses the Twitter phirehose) manually
running (via the webbrowser on my local wamp server), but I can't
figure out how to run both get_tweets.php and parse_tweets.php as a
background process like with SSH commands:
nohup php script.php > /dev/null &
Some of you started using (the Windows equivalent of) cronjobs, but
this isn't the right way to go. I think this is because of creating
multiple connection (or re-connections) to the Twitter streaming phirehose isn't allowed?
How can I run both PHP scripts (get_tweets.php and parse_tweets.php)
as a background process on my local WAMP server (and later on a VPS)?
Just to clearify:
I am using a WAMP server (first to test a little bit and later to
run it on a VPS)
Using LAMP or any *nix server/system isn't an option (due to time,
experience and lack of skills)
I have searched for solutions (on google and stackoverflow), but they are either not working or not clear enough for me (I am new to this)
Thank you in advance.
Find the php/bin folder where the php.exe is located. Copy the folder path and add it to your PATH environment variable (Follow this for instance to edit your PATH variable.
Once this is done, you'll be able to execute php in the command line from anywhere. Just start php script.php with a command line in the right folder and it should work. There might be some configuration to make so that the php in command line uses WAMP's php.ini.
I want to know if there is an equivalent cron in Windows and how I can use it programmatically using PHP.
Windows has the Scheduled Tasks control panel applet (or management console plug-in on later versions of Windows) but you can also access it via schtasks.exe if you want to automate it from the command line.
In addition, you can also use at from the command line to schedule a task.