The readline library is not available on Windows.
<?php
if (PHP_OS == 'WINNT') {
echo '$ ';
$line = stream_get_line(STDIN, 1024, PHP_EOL);
} else {
$line = readline('$ ');
}
?>
(PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 7)
readline — Reads a line
$prompt
] )Reads a single line from the user. You must add this line to the history yourself using readline_add_history().
promptYou may specify a string with which to prompt the user.
Returns a single string from the user. The line returned has the ending newline removed.
Example #1 readline() Example
<?php
//get 3 commands from user
for ($i=0; $i < 3; $i++) {
$line = readline("Command: ");
readline_add_history($line);
}
//dump history
print_r(readline_list_history());
//dump variables
print_r(readline_info());
?>
The readline library is not available on Windows.
<?php
if (PHP_OS == 'WINNT') {
echo '$ ';
$line = stream_get_line(STDIN, 1024, PHP_EOL);
} else {
$line = readline('$ ');
}
?>
Note that readline() will return boolean "false" when the user presses CTRL+D.
To haukew at gmail dot com:
readline provides more features than reading a single line of input ... your example misses line editing and history. If you don't need that, use something as simple as this:
function readline( $prompt = '' )
{
echo $prompt;
return rtrim( fgets( STDIN ), "\n" );
}
I wanted a function that would timeout if readline was waiting too long... this works on php CLI on linux:
<?php
function readline_timeout($sec, $def)
{
return trim(shell_exec('bash -c ' .
escapeshellarg('phprlto=' .
escapeshellarg($def) . ';' .
'read -t ' . ((int)$sec) . ' phprlto;' .
'echo "$phprlto"')));
}
?>
Just call readline_timeout(5, 'whatever') to either read something from stdin, or timeout in 5 seconds and default to 'whatever'. I tried just using shell_exec without relying on bash -c, but that didn't work for me, so I had to go the round about way.
<?php
class ConsoleQuestion
{
function readline()
{
return rtrim(fgets(STDIN));
}
}
//Example1
$line = new ConsoleQuestion();
$prompt = "What Is Your Name: ";
echo $prompt;
$answer = $line->readline();
echo "You Entered: " . $answer;
//Example2 (comment Ex1 then uncomment Ex2)
/*$prompt = "What Is Your Name: ";
echo $prompt;
$answer = "You Entered: " . rtrim( fgets( STDIN ));
echo $answer;*/
?>
If you want to prefill the prompt with something when using readline, this worked for me:
<?php
function readline_callback($ret)
{
global $prompt_answer, $prompt_finished;
$prompt_answer = $ret;
$prompt_finished = TRUE;
readline_callback_handler_remove();
}
readline_callback_handler_install('Enter some text> ',
'readline_callback');
$prefill = 'foobar';
for ($i = 0; $i < strlen($prefill); $i++)
{
readline_info('pending_input', substr($prefill, $i, 1));
readline_callback_read_char();
}
$prompt_finished = FALSE;
$prompt_answer = FALSE;
while (!$prompt_finished)
readline_callback_read_char();
echo 'You wrote: ' . $prompt_answer . "\n";
?>
A workaround if readline is not compiled into php, because for example the command is only needed within an installation routine. It works as follows under Linux:
$f=popen("read; echo \$REPLY","r");
$input=fgets($f,100);
pclose($f);
echo "Entered: $input\n";
In CGI mode be sure to call:
ob_implicit_flush(true);
at the top of your script if you want to be able to output data before and after the prompt.
-- Tomas V.V.Cox