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What does [if test "/usr/local/bin/php" = '@'php_bin'@'; then] test for

Hi folks

I'm waiding through some php stuff and came upon the pear script. Within I found the mysteries line

Code:

if test "/usr/local/bin/php" = '@'php_bin'@'; then

and now wonder what the heck '@'php_bin'@' means.

For completion heres the complete pear script

Code:

#!/bin/sh



# first find which PHP binary to use

if test "x$PHP_PEAR_PHP_BIN" != "x"; then

  PHP="$PHP_PEAR_PHP_BIN"

else

  if test "/usr/local/bin/php" = '@'php_bin'@'; then

    PHP=php

  else

    PHP="/usr/local/bin/php"

  fi

fi



# then look for the right pear include dir

if test "x$PHP_PEAR_INSTALL_DIR" != "x"; then

  INCDIR=$PHP_PEAR_INSTALL_DIR

  INCARG="-d include_path=$PHP_PEAR_INSTALL_DIR"

else

  if test "/usr/local/lib/php" = '@'php_dir'@'; then

    INCDIR=`dirname $0`

    INCARG=""

  else

    INCDIR="/usr/local/lib/php"

    INCARG="-d include_path=/usr/local/lib/php"

  fi

fi



exec $PHP -C -q $INCARG -d output_buffering=1 -d variables_order=EGPCS -d open_basedir="" -d safe_mode=0 -d register_argc_argv="On" -d auto_prepend_file="" -d auto_append_file="" $INCDIR/pearcmd.php "$@"

Probably a substitution, although I don't use PHP or pear. What happens if you remove @? What happens if you echo '@'php_bin'@'?
Kevin Barry

This isn't exactly a pear script; it's a shell script pear uses to get data about how you have PHP set up on your system.

The @ symbol has no relevance to PHP in this context (in a PHP script, the @ symbol suppresses errors, but this isn't a PHP script).

I don't use pear, but, based on what the rest of the script does, it looks like php_bin and php_dir _might_ be either commandline utilities or some kind of environmental variable installed with pear. If pear is set up on your system then php_bin would probably point to your system's PHP installation.

------
update
------
I just stopped by the #pear channel and they called them 'replacements' and told me to type:

pear config-show

which gives a listing of pear's configuration variables.

I was a bit in a hurry writing this thread. So I just wrote pear script. What I meant was the pear bash script. ( Doesn't sound good either ;))

If I just echo '@'php_bin'@' before the if block it just prints

Code:

@php_bin@

but the trail with pear config-show seems good. If you grep for it you get the line

Code:

PHP CLI/CGI binary php_bin /usr/bin/php

One can also find the other '@'var_name'@' from the bash script within the output of pear config-show. So I concluded its some internal variable substition. Maybe when pear is called from within pear or the user has a config file on its own (also I doubt later cause no config file is parsed...)

Thanks to the both of you I'm all set and my nosiness is satisfied :D
Cheers Zhjim