The php_sapi_name() function is extremely useful when you want to determine the type of interface. There is, however, one more gotcha you need to be aware of while designing your application or deploying it to an unknown server.
Whenever something depends on the type of interface, make sure your check is conclusive. Especially when you want to distinguish the command line interface (CLI) from the common gateway interface (CGI).
Note, that the php-cgi binary can be called from the command line, from a shell script or as a cron job as well! If so, the php_sapi_name() will always return the same value (i.e. "cgi-fcgi") instead of "cli" which you could expect.
Bad things happen to good people. Do not always expect /usr/bin/php to be a link to php-cli binary.
Luckily the contents of the $_SERVER and the $_ENV superglobal arrays depends on whether the php-cgi binary is called from the command line interface (by a shell script, by the cron, etc.) or by some HTTP server (i.e. lighttpd).
<?php
var_dump($_SERVER);
?>
Try to call php-cgi binary from the command line interface and then via HTTP request and compare the output of the script above. There will be plenty options to satisfy almost everyone.
For the sake of security remember, that contents of the $_SERVER and the $_ENV superglobal arrays (as well as $_GET, $_POST, $_COOKIE, $_FILES and $_REQUEST) should be considered tainted.
php_sapi_name
(PHP 4 >= 4.0.1, PHP 5, PHP 7, PHP 8)
php_sapi_name — Retorna o tipo de interface entre o servidor web e o PHP
Descrição
php_sapi_name
(
) : string
Retorna uma string minúscula que descreve o tipo de interface entre o servidor web e o PHP (Server API, SAPI). Em CGI PHP, esta string é "cgi", em mod_php para o Apache, esta string é "apache" e assim por diante.
Valor Retornado
Retorna o tipo da interface, como uma string em minúsculo.
Exemplos
Exemplo #1 Exemplo da php_sapi_name()
<?php
$sapi_type = php_sapi_name();
if (substr($sapi_type, 0, 3) == 'cgi') {
echo "You are using CGI PHP\n";
} else {
echo "You are not using CGI PHP\n";
}
?>
add a note
User Contributed Notes 4 notes
michal at roszka dot pl ¶
15 years ago
hajo-p ¶
10 years ago
some not yet mentioned sapi names:
cli-server -> php built-in webserver
srv -> hhvm
michael at butlerpc dot net ¶
3 years ago
When using nginx-unit with PHP, the sapi name seems to be "cli-server"
