If you haven’t heard of it yet, there’s a very intersting tool available called phpsh, a python implementation to a PHP shell – but better.

Installing phpsh

SSH into your server, and download, build & install the binaries. This assumes you’ve downloaded the .tar.gz version.

# wget http://github.com/facebook/phpsh/tarball/master
# tar xzf facebook-phpsh-1bc1c01.tar.gz
# cd facebook-phpsh-1bc1c01/
# python setup.py build
# python setup.py install
# phpsh

As simple as that.

How to use phpsh?

Even more simple. Once the install is done, execute phpsh on the CLI, and get started writing PHP code.

srv ~ # phpsh 
Starting php
type 'h' or 'help' to see instructions & features
php>
php>
php> echo "Testing this new PHPSH";
Testing this new PHPSH
php>
php>
php> $dbconn = mysql_connect('localhost', 'user', 'pass');
PHP Warning:  mysql_connect(): Access denied for user 'user'@'localhost' (using password: YES) in /usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/phpsh/phpsh.php(534) : eval()'d code on line 1
php>
php>
php> exit;

This can help to easily test or debug some PHP code. It has syntax highlighting, tab completion (!!), manual pages, … Still not convinced? Have a look at some real-life examples for a PHP interface shell. Seriously, awesome tool.

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phpsh: Running An Interactive PHP Shell (Python)

Installing phpsh

How to use phpsh?

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