Can not use command line interpreter

Question

I have tried to execute simple php code in the php interpreter. When I executed the command php -a I getting the message

Interactive mode ena

Answer 1

If you're using Mac, then install Homebrew (http://brew.sh) then type: brew install phpsh

And then you can run phpsh to get an interactive shell.

Answer 2

type php -m and make sure you have the readline module. If you don't you won't be able to use it.

http://www.php.net/manual/en/features.commandline.interactive.php

As of PHP 5.1.0, the CLI SAPI provides an interactive shell using the -a option if PHP is compiled with the --with-readline option.

Answer 3

This is what you should see:

# php -a
Interactive shell

php > echo 1+1;
2
php > echo PHP_VERSION;
5.3.2-1ubuntu4.14
php > exit
#

Answer 4

Install this:

php5-readline

then try use:

php -a

Answer 5

After I got tired of compiling it on each machine I used PHPSH (as mentioned by joey-adams)

It is much better then php -a (syntax highlighting and autocompletion)

Install python phpsh

look at install-php5-with-readline-support-on-debian-wheezy

$ sudo apt-get install python # this is necessary to run phpsh
$ cd ~/

$ wget https://github.com/facebook/phpsh/zipball/master
$ unzip phpsh-master.zip

$ cd phpsh-master
$ sudo cp -r src /etc/phpsh # phpsh seems to complain unless it resides at /etc/phpsh
$ sudo ln -s /etc/phpsh/phpsh /usr/bin/phpsh # put phpsh on the $PATH

Answer 6

Because module readline not installed. http://php.net/manual/en/features.commandline.interactive.php

This is how I install the module by recompiling php source codes:

Find previous Configure command:

$ php -i | grep configure
Configure Command =>  './configure'  '--prefix=/usr/local/php7' ...

Then recompile:

./configure --prefix=/usr/local/php7 \
--with-readline \

...

$ make clean 
$ make
$ make test 
$ sudo make install

Check if readline module installed:

$ php m | grep readline
readline

Then start php Interactive shell:

$ php -a
Interactive shell

php >