note 117483 added to function.getopt

To elaborate on what 'ch1902' said, there certainly are instances where you may need to execute a script via CLI and the HTTP protocol. In such an instance, you can normalize how your script parses via CLI (using getopt()) as well as via HTTP (using $_GET) with the following simplified code: <?php // PHP 5.4+ only due to the new array brace style. function request(array $options = []) { // Set the default values. $defaults = [ 'params' => '', 'os' => '', 'username' => posix_getpwuid(posix_geteuid())['name'], 'env' => '' ]; $options += $defaults; // Sufficient enough check for CLI. if ('cli' === PHP_SAPI) { return getopt('', ['params:', 'os::', 'username::', 'env::']) + $options; } return $_GET + $options; } print_r(request()); ?> The above code would yield the results below when access via CLI and HTTP. /** * params = foo/bar * username = housni.yakoob */ // CLI $ php script.php --params=foo/bar --username=housni.yakoob Array ( [params] => foo/bar [username] => housni.yakoob [os] => [env] => ) // HTTP script.php?params=foo/bar&username=housni.yakoob Array ( [params] => foo/bar [username] => housni.yakoob [os] => [env] => ) /** * params = foo/bar * username = Not provided, therefore, the default value will be used. */ // CLI $ whoami && php script.php --params=foo/bar housni // <-- Current users usersname (output of whoami). Array ( [params] => foo/bar [os] => [username] => housni [env] => ) // HTTP script.php?params=foo/bar Array ( [params] => foo/bar [os] => // The username of my Apache user, the result of posix_getpwuid(posix_geteuid())['name'] [username] => www-data [env] => ) As you can see, the output is consistent when the script is executed via the CLI or the web. ---- Server IP: 103.11.79.64 Probable Submitter: 124.43.175.208 ---- Manual Page -- http://php.net/manual/en/function.getopt.php Edit -- https://master.php.net/note/edit/117483 Del: integrated -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/117483/integrated Del: useless -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/117483/useless Del: bad code -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/117483/bad+code Del: spam -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/117483/spam Del: non-english -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/117483/non-english Del: in docs -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/117483/in+docs Del: other reasons-- https://master.php.net/note/delete/117483 Reject -- https://master.php.net/note/reject/117483 Search -- https://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php