Executing a Route (Controller/Action) using PHP CLI and Detecting a CLI Request

Question

Is there a way in Laravel 4 to run my controller/action using PHP-CLI? I have a controller/action that I would like to extend to perform an alternative action if the request

Answer 1

As Rob already said, to determine if the current script is being run in the console use App::runningInConsole() or simple plain PHP php_sapi_name() == 'cli'.

As for running controller@action from console, you could use curl or wget to request one of your routes but I think the proper way of doing it would be to use a custom artisan command. Your controllers are classes so you can instantiate them and use as you please from within your artisan command:

$controller = new SomeController;
$controller->someAction();

Watch this video for an introduction to easily developing your own artisan commands.