dl

(PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 7)

dl — Loads a PHP extension at runtime

Description

bool dl ( string $library )

Loads the PHP extension given by the parameter library.

Use extension_loaded() to test whether a given extension is already available or not. This works on both built-in extensions and dynamically loaded ones (either through php.ini or dl()).

Warning

This function was removed from most SAPIs in PHP 5.3.0, and was removed from PHP-FPM in PHP 7.0.0.

Parameters

library

This parameter is only the filename of the extension to load which also depends on your platform. For example, the sockets extension (if compiled as a shared module, not the default!) would be called sockets.so on Unix platforms whereas it is called php_sockets.dll on the Windows platform.

The directory where the extension is loaded from depends on your platform:

Windows - If not explicitly set in the php.ini, the extension is loaded from C:\php4\extensions\ (PHP 4) or C:\php5\ (PHP 5) by default.

Unix - If not explicitly set in the php.ini, the default extension directory depends on

whether PHP has been built with --enable-debug or not
whether PHP has been built with (experimental) ZTS (Zend Thread Safety) support or not
the current internal ZEND_MODULE_API_NO (Zend internal module API number, which is basically the date on which a major module API change happened, e.g. 20010901)

Taking into account the above, the directory then defaults to <install-dir>/lib/php/extensions/ <debug-or-not>-<zts-or-not>-ZEND_MODULE_API_NO, e.g. /usr/local/php/lib/php/extensions/debug-non-zts-20010901 or /usr/local/php/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-zts-20010901.

Return Values

Returns TRUE on success or FALSE on failure. If the functionality of loading modules is not available or has been disabled (either by setting enable_dl off or by enabling safe mode in php.ini) an E_ERROR is emitted and execution is stopped. If dl() fails because the specified library couldn't be loaded, in addition to FALSE an E_WARNING message is emitted.

Examples

Example #1 dl() examples


<?php
// Example loading an extension based on OS
if (!extension_loaded('sqlite')) {
    if (strtoupper(substr(PHP_OS, 0, 3)) === 'WIN') {
        dl('php_sqlite.dll');
    } else {
        dl('sqlite.so');
    }
}

// Or, the PHP_SHLIB_SUFFIX constant is available as of PHP 4.3.0
if (!extension_loaded('sqlite')) {
    $prefix = (PHP_SHLIB_SUFFIX === 'dll') ? 'php_' : '';
    dl($prefix . 'sqlite.' . PHP_SHLIB_SUFFIX);
}
?>

Changelog

Version	Description
7.0.0	dl() is disabled in PHP-FPM.
5.3.9	dl() is enabled in PHP-FPM, albeit discouraged.
5.3.0	dl() is now disabled in some SAPIs due to stability issues. The only SAPIs that allow dl() are CLI and Embed. Use the Extension Loading Directives instead.

Notes

Note:
dl() is not supported when PHP is built with ZTS support. Use the Extension Loading Directives instead.

Note:
dl() is case sensitive on Unix platforms.

Note: This function is disabled when PHP is running in safe mode.

User Contributed Notes

shaunspiller at spammenot-gmail dot com

7 years ago


dl is awkward because the filename format is OS-dependent and because it can complain if the extension is already loaded. This wrapper function fixes that:

<?php

function load_lib($n, $f = null) {
    return extension_loaded($n) or dl(((PHP_SHLIB_SUFFIX === 'dll') ? 'php_' : '') . ($f ? $f : $n) . '.' . PHP_SHLIB_SUFFIX);
}

?>

Examples:

<?php

// ensure we have SSL and MySQL support
load_lib('openssl');
load_lib('mysql');

// a rare few extensions have a different filename to their extension name, such as the image (gd) library, so we specify them like this:
load_lib('gd', 'gd2');

?>

K. C.

1 year ago


It would be nice to know which SAPIs removed the function. 

Telling me 'This function has been removed from some SAPIs in PHP 5.3.' is pretty much useless and I feel mocked. Or do the writers of the documentation don't know from which SAPIs it has been removed?

mag_2000 at front dot ru

10 years ago


<?php

function dl_local( $extensionFile ) {
   //make sure that we are ABLE to load libraries
   if( !(bool)ini_get( "enable_dl" ) || (bool)ini_get( "safe_mode" ) ) {
     die( "dh_local(): Loading extensions is not permitted.\n" );
   }

     //check to make sure the file exists
   if( !file_exists( $extensionFile ) ) {
     die( "dl_local(): File '$extensionFile' does not exist.\n" );
   }
   
   //check the file permissions
   if( !is_executable( $extensionFile ) ) {
     die( "dl_local(): File '$extensionFile' is not executable.\n" );
   }

 //we figure out the path
 $currentDir = getcwd() . "/";
 $currentExtPath = ini_get( "extension_dir" );
 $subDirs = preg_match_all( "/\//" , $currentExtPath , $matches );
 unset( $matches );
 
     //lets make sure we extracted a valid extension path
   if( !(bool)$subDirs ) {
     die( "dl_local(): Could not determine a valid extension path [extension_dir].\n" );
   }
 
 $extPathLastChar = strlen( $currentExtPath ) - 1;
 
   if( $extPathLastChar == strrpos( $currentExtPath , "/" ) ) {
     $subDirs--;
   }

 $backDirStr = ""; 
     for( $i = 1; $i <= $subDirs; $i++ ) {
     $backDirStr .= "..";
       if( $i != $subDirs ) {
         $backDirStr .= "/";
       }
   }

 //construct the final path to load
 $finalExtPath = $backDirStr . $currentDir . $extensionFile;
 
   //now we execute dl() to actually load the module
     if( !dl( $finalExtPath ) ) {
     die();
   }

 //if the module was loaded correctly, we must bow grab the module name
 $loadedExtensions = get_loaded_extensions();
 $thisExtName = $loadedExtensions[ sizeof( $loadedExtensions ) - 1 ];
  
 //lastly, we return the extension name
  return $thisExtName;

}//end dl_local()

?>

endofyourself at yahoo dot com

12 years ago


If you need to load an extension from the CURRENT local directory because you do not have privelages to place the extension in your servers PHP extensions directory, this function i wrote may be of use to you



<?php

/*

    Function: dl_local()

    Reference: http://us2.php.net/manual/en/function.dl.php

    Author: Brendon Crawford <endofyourself |AT| yahoo>

    Usage: dl_local( "mylib.so" );

    Returns: Extension Name (NOT the extension filename however)

    NOTE:

        This function can be used when you need to load a PHP extension (module,shared object,etc..),

        but you do not have sufficient privelages to place the extension in the proper directory where it can be loaded. This function

        will load the extension from the CURRENT WORKING DIRECTORY only.

        If you need to see which functions are available within a certain extension,

        use "get_extension_funcs()". Documentation for this can be found at

        "http://us2.php.net/manual/en/function.get-extension-funcs.php".

*/



function dl_local( $extensionFile ) {

    //make sure that we are ABLE to load libraries

    if( !(bool)ini_get( "enable_dl" ) || (bool)ini_get( "safe_mode" ) ) {

     die( "dh_local(): Loading extensions is not permitted.\n" );

    }



     //check to make sure the file exists

    if( !file_exists( $extensionFile ) ) {

     die( "dl_local(): File '$extensionFile' does not exist.\n" );

    }

    

    //check the file permissions

    if( !is_executable( $extensionFile ) ) {

     die( "dl_local(): File '$extensionFile' is not executable.\n" );

    }



 //we figure out the path

 $currentDir = getcwd() . "/";

 $currentExtPath = ini_get( "extension_dir" );

 $subDirs = preg_match_all( "/\//" , $currentExtPath , $matches );

 unset( $matches );

 

     //lets make sure we extracted a valid extension path

    if( !(bool)$subDirs ) {

     die( "dl_local(): Could not determine a valid extension path [extension_dir].\n" );

    }

 

 $extPathLastChar = strlen( $currentExtPath ) - 1;

 

    if( $extPathLastChar == strrpos( $currentExtPath , "/" ) ) {

     $subDirs--;

    }



 $backDirStr = ""; 

     for( $i = 1; $i <= $subDirs; $i++ ) {

     $backDirStr .= "..";

        if( $i != $subDirs ) {

         $backDirStr .= "/";

        }

    }



 //construct the final path to load

 $finalExtPath = $backDirStr . $currentDir . $extensionFile;

 

    //now we execute dl() to actually load the module

     if( !dl( $finalExtPath ) ) {

     die();

    }



 //if the module was loaded correctly, we must bow grab the module name

 $loadedExtensions = get_loaded_extensions();

 $thisExtName = $loadedExtensions[ sizeof( $loadedExtensions ) - 1 ];

  

 //lastly, we return the extension name

  return $thisExtName;



}//end dl_local()



?>

Anonymous

5 years ago


this function errors out as the dl() cannot take the absolute path..."Warning: dl() [function.dl]: Temporary module name should contain only filename in /home/..."

fabrizim at owlwatch dot com

2 years ago


As noted in the documentation:

Changelog 5.3: dl() is now disabled in some SAPIs due to stability issues. The only SAPIs that allow dl() are CLI and Embed. Use the Extension Loading Directives instead.

If using PEAR libraries that try to load extensions, like Image_Transform which will try to load ImageMagik, and the "enable_dl" directive is set to 1 in your php.ini, you may end up with a hard to find error (white screen of death).

One "solution" is to change the enable_dl directive to 0 in the php.ini. It may have adverse affects if you are using php on command line that requires the "dl" function, but I think in most cases its okay.

dl