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up vote 20 down vote favorite
7

How would I make my server run a php script by triggering it manually using php? Basically I have a pretty big cronjob file that is ran every 2 hours, but I want to be able to trigger the file manually myself without having to wait for it to load (i want it to be done on the server's side).

EDIT: I want to execute the file from a php file... Not command line.

share|improve this question
2  
Just run the same command the cron is? Or just do php file.php? – Rocket Hazmat Dec 9 '11 at 19:31
1  
Why don't you just copy the command from the crontab and paste it into the command line? – Ben Lee Dec 9 '11 at 19:32
    
@Rocket I want to do it from a php file – domino Dec 9 '11 at 19:35
    
Thanks for 3 down votes and 6 incorrect answers. Thanks for nothing. – domino Dec 9 '11 at 19:49
9  
The answers were only incorrect because you didn't include vital details in your question. Given the details you provided, the answers are 100% correct. Now that you have described what you're actually trying to do, the answers will improve. Very simple, you have no reason to be disgruntled. People are trying to help. – Chris Baker Dec 9 '11 at 19:55
up vote 49 down vote accepted

You can invoke a PHP script manually from the command line

hello.php
<?php
 echo 'hello world!';
?>

Command line:
php hello.php

Output:
hello world!

See the documentation: http://php.net/manual/en/features.commandline.php

EDIT OP edited the question to add a critical detail: the script is to be executed by another script.

There are a couple of approaches. First and easiest, you could simply include the file. When you include a file, the code within is "executed" (actually, interpreted). Any code that is not within a function or class body will be processed immediately. Take a look at the documentation for include (docs) and/or require (docs) (note: include_once and require_once are related, but different in an important way. Check out the documents to understand the difference) Your code would look like this:

 include('hello.php');
 /* output
 hello world!
 */

Second and slightly more complex is to use shell_exec (docs). With shell_exec, you will call the php binary and pass the desired script as the argument. Your code would look like this:

$output = shell_exec('php hello.php');
echo "<pre>$output</pre>";
/* output
hello world!
*/

Finally, and most complex, you could use the CURL library to call the file as though it were requested via a browser. Check out the CURL library documentation here: http://us2.php.net/manual/en/ref.curl.php

$ch = curl_init();
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, "http://www.myDomain.com/hello.php");
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HEADER, 0);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true)

$output = curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);
echo "<pre>$output</pre>";
/* output
hello world!
*/

Documentation for functions used

share|improve this answer
    
I want to do it from a php file not command line. – domino Dec 9 '11 at 19:36
    
That would have been very useful information to include in your question! :P See the edit, I discuss the numerous ways to call one PHP script from another. – Chris Baker Dec 9 '11 at 19:55
    
Thanks a lot for the lengthy reply! – domino Dec 9 '11 at 19:58
up vote 2 down vote

The OP refined his question to how a php script is called from a script. The php statement 'require' is good for dependancy as the script will stop if required script is not found.

#!/usr/bin/php
<?
require '/relative/path/to/someotherscript.php';

/* The above script runs as though executed from within this one. */

printf ("Hello world!\n");

?>
share|improve this answer
up vote 1 down vote

you can use the backtick notation:

`php file.php`;

You can also put this at the top of the php file to indicate the interpreter:

#!/usr/bin/php

Change it to where you put php. Then give execute permission on the file and you can call the file without specifying php:

`./file.php`

If you want to capture the output of the script:

$output = `./file.php`;
echo $output;
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up vote 0 down vote

If it is a linux box you would run something like:

php /folder/script.php

On Windows, you would need to make sure your php.exe file is part of your PATH, and do a similar approach to the file you want to run:

php C:\folder\script.php
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up vote 0 down vote

On the command line: 

> php yourfile.php
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up vote 0 down vote

Open ssh and execute the command manually?

php /path/to/your/file.php
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up vote 0 down vote

to "chain" another php program from within your code, use "header"

header("Location:index.php?page=menus");

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up vote -2 down vote

I think this is what you are looking for

<?php include ('Scripts/Php/connection.php');
//The connection.php script is executed inside the current file ?>

The script file can also be in a .txt format, it should still work, it does for me

e.g.

<?php include ('Scripts/Php/connection.txt');
//The connection.txt script is executed inside the current file ?>
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