Re: random observations on online PHP manual

On 21 March 2010 14:15, Robert P. J. Day <rpjday@crashcourse.ca> wrote: > On Sat, 20 Mar 2010, Philip Olson wrote: > >> On Mar 20, 2010, at 8:00 AM, Robert P. J. Day wrote: > >> > * very early on, i might be tempted to have a short section >> > explaining how readers can examine the current state of PHP on >> > their system, mostly from the command line.  when i was starting >> > out, i was thrilled to discover "php -m".  a short page walking >> > readers through something like: >> > >> >  $ php --help >> >  $ php -v >> >  $ php -m >> >  $ php -i >> > >> > and so on would probably not hurt, and it's something they could >> > do with no further background, just to verify that they have a >> > working and properly-configured PHP setup. >> >> Sounds useful, and the command line part was restructured recently >> so sections like this can be easily found (and pointed to) without >> getting lost. >> >>  - http://php.net/manual/features.commandline >> >> So early on, this can be referenced. It's difficult to know where a >> tutorial should go but we lean towards having them within their >> specific topics, as opposed to being lumped together in the "Getting >> Started" tutorial. Although there really aren't many tutorials >> currently, eventually a tutorial index feels useful. > >  i wasn't suggesting reproducing the entire command-line section.  i > was more thinking along the lines of something early in the > installation section, maybe a very first section, "how can you tell if > you have PHP installed already?"  if people are truly beginners, they > may not even *know* if PHP is on their system.  so a simple sequence > of commands they can run, with a rationale for them, such as: > >  $ type php            # is it here and where is it? >  $ php -v              # what version is it? >  $ php -m              # what modules are loaded? >  $ php -h              # get general help > > not only would this get a new reader at least typing a few commands, > but you can recommend that if they *do* need to install, they can > re-use this list as a sanity check to verify the install went well. > you might also mention that when they eventually ask for help, people > will ask them these very questions, "what version are you running? > what modules are loaded?" > > rday > -- > > ======================================================================== > Robert P. J. Day                               Waterloo, Ontario, CANADA > >            Linux Consulting, Training and Kernel Pedantry. > > Web page:                                         >  http://crashcourse.ca > Twitter:                                       > http://twitter.com/rpjday > ======================================================================== > For windows, the "type php" isn't the same command. Windows "type" is similar to "cat". Assuming that PHP _is_ in the path, then, at the command line ... FOR %A IN (PHP.EXE) DO @ECHO %~$PATH:A will produce output of ... C:\PHP5\php.exe -- ----- Richard Quadling "Standing on the shoulders of some very clever giants!" EE : http://www.experts-exchange.com/M_248814.html EE4Free : http://www.experts-exchange.com/becomeAnExpert.jsp Zend Certified Engineer : http://zend.com/zce.php?c=ZEND002498&r=213474731 ZOPA : http://uk.zopa.com/member/RQuadling