01 Hello CLI

Goal

Run your first PHP script from the command line, and read a command-line argument.

Steps

1. Create the script

<?php
// hello.php
$name = $argv[1] ?? "world";
echo "Hello, {$name}!\n";

$argv is PHP's built-in array of command-line arguments — $argv[0] is always the script's own path, so the first real argument is $argv[1].

2. Run it

php hello.php

Expected output:

Hello, world!

3. Pass an argument

php hello.php PHP

Expected output:

Hello, PHP!

Checkpoint

Both commands above should print the expected greeting — no web server, no built-in server flag, just php <file>.php [args...] directly from the shell.

Next

More pages continue this ladder toward argument/option parsing and file persistence — tracked as follow-up work.