Switch of php versions not working on mac

Question

I have High Sierra installed and it comes with php 7.1. During the environment I ended up being able to upgrade to php7.2 but wasn't able to document it, so I dont exactly know what I did. Now, I am trying to switch to php 7.3

Using brew, I ran the following commands:

brew unlink php@7.2

brew services install php@7.3

brew link php@7.3

If I restart my terminal and check for the php version:

php -v

I still see 7.2.25 version and not 7.3 as I desire

I also tried with a node package that I found in this link here but no success.

How do I successfully switch between php versions?

Answer 1

If you're using Valet:

• brew link php@x.y --overwrite, if it doesn't work, rerun it again and again, literally. or you can copy the command it suggests in the printed error.
• After you've successfully changed your host php version, now you have to communicate that to Valet: valet use php@x.y --force
• Finally: export PATH="/usr/local/opt/php@x.y/bin:$PATH" and export PATH="/usr/local/opt/php@x.y/sbin:$PATH"

Sometimes, when you are upgrading/downgrading, for some reason, you might need to change the host version, change Valet version, THEN you export the PATH.

Answer 2

Most of these answers is for php-cli (Command Line Interface). It's for when you use php scripts from command line only. With a

php -v

PHP 8.1.29 (cli) (built: Jun 5 2024 05:51:57) (NTS) Copyright (c) The PHP Group Zend Engine v4.1.29, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies with Zend OPcache v8.1.29, Copyright (c), by Zend Technologies

You only get CLI php version. It's not the same as php-FPM. If you want to know what version apache uses there are other ways. You can use in your php file

echo PHP_VERSION;

or function to know more details (including version)

phpinfo();

And load it via browser. That's why i'm writing this comment. I'm new to mac and was looking for a way to make httpd use other versions. brew link && brew unlink only changes CLI php versions for me, but not what httpd uses. I don't know if it's a bug or i did something wrong. Only way i can change php versions httpd uses is to modify my httpd.conf (/opt/homebrew/etc/httpd/httpd.conf) file: I commented the line:

#LoadModule php_module /opt/homebrew/opt/php/lib/httpd/modules/libphp.so

Because "/opt/homebrew/opt/php/" is a link to php version that apache uses. Add some lines and uncomment only the one with php version you need (they have to be installed with "brew install php@version":

LoadModule php7_module /opt/homebrew/opt/php@7.4/lib/httpd/modules/libphp7.so
#LoadModule php_module /opt/homebrew/opt/php@8.0/lib/httpd/modules/libphp.so
#LoadModule php_module /opt/homebrew/opt/php@8.1/lib/httpd/modules/libphp.so
#LoadModule php_module /opt/homebrew/opt/php@8.2/lib/httpd/modules/libphp.so
#LoadModule php_module /opt/homebrew/opt/php@8.3/lib/httpd/modules/libphp.so

<FilesMatch \.php$>
      SetHandler application/x-httpd-php
</FilesMatch>

Finally, check DirectoryIndex includes index.php

<IfModule dir_module>
    DirectoryIndex index.html index.php
</IfModule>

After that:

brew services restart httpd 

And it works. No need no brew link/unlink.

I don't know if it's a best way, but for me was the only one that worked.

Answer 3

In 2024, the simplest option, by far, is to use Laravel's Herd, even when not using Laravel.

Answer 4

You can easily switch between any number of PHP versions on MacOS. I had the same problem while switching between PHP 7.4 and 8.3. Just follow the steps mentioned below and you are ready to go.

First install the PHP versions you need. If you've already installed it, you can skip this step or it'll tell you that the version is already installed.

brew install php@7.4
brew install php@8.3

Now if you are using the default terminal on macOS, you'll use /~.bash_profile but if you are using zsh terminal, use /~.zshrc

sudo nano /~.zshrc

Add these lines at the end of that file

# Add PHP 7.4 paths
export PATH="/usr/local/opt/php@7.4/bin:$PATH"
export PATH="/usr/local/opt/php@7.4/sbin:$PATH"

# Add PHP 8.3 paths
export PATH="/usr/local/opt/php@8.3/bin:$PATH"
export PATH="/usr/local/opt/php@8.3/sbin:$PATH"

# Aliases
alias usephp8='brew unlink php@7.4 && brew link --overwrite --force php@8.3 && export PATH="/usr/local/opt/php@8.3/bin:$PATH" && export
PATH="/usr/local/opt/php@8.3/sbin:$PATH"'
alias usephp7='brew unlink php@8.3 && brew link --overwrite --force php@7.4 && export PATH="/usr/local/opt/php@7.4/bin:$PATH" && export
PATH="/usr/local/opt/php@7.4/sbin:$PATH"'

Now run this command

source ~/.zshrc

To switch between php8.3 and php7.4, use these aliases

usephp7
usephp8

You can also run a PHP project at localhost without installing XAMPP. Open terminal and go to the project path and run this command

php -S localhost:8000

Answer 5

here is my approach to switch between php7.3 and php 8.2 and want to use 8.2

• brew install php@8.2
• brew unlink php@7.3
• brew link php@8.2
• php -v now my output will be like this

PHP 7.3.33 (cli) (built: Jul 13 2023 17:29:11) ( NTS ) Copyright (c) 1997-2018 The PHP Group Zend Engine v3.3.33, Copyright (c) 1998-2018 Zend Technologies with Zend OPcache v7.3.33, Copyright (c) 1999-2018, by Zend Technologies

we can change to php 7.3 by this steps

• brew unlink php@8.2
• brew link php@7.3
• php -v

PHP 8.2.10 (cli) (built: Aug 31 2023 18:52:55) (NTS) Copyright (c) The PHP Group Zend Engine v4.2.10, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies with Zend OPcache v8.2.10, Copyright (c), by Zend Technologies

Answer 6

Open the terminal then run

nano ~/.zshrc

In the file that you open, you'll find the exported path of PHP as follows:

#export PATH="/usr/local/opt/php@7.4/bin:$PATH"
#export PATH="/usr/local/opt/php@7.4/sbin:$PATH"
export PATH="/usr/local/opt/php@8.2/sbin:$PATH"

Then comment the old version by adding # at the first of line and save file CTRL+x

after that close the terminal or open new one then get the php version again

php --version

I hope you have completely switched to the new PHP version

Answer 7

Until I restarted Terminal I kept seeing the old version.

Answer 8

Since I had to face this issue as well, let me share how to make this work. If you have to switch back and forth on mac then this is what works for me.

Let's say you have multiple PHP versions installed 7.2 and 7.4

Now my current PHP version is 7.4 & I have to switch back to 7.2, steps will be.

1. brew unlink php@7.4 && brew link php@7.2 --force

2. nano ~/.zshrc -> Update Export Path From 7.4 to 7.2

   

3. Save It.

4. brew services stop php@7.4

5. brew services start php@7.2

Voila. To go back to 7.4 Run brew unlink php@7.2 && brew link php@7.4 --force & uncomment export files. That's it.

Answer 9

@chenrui's is perfect. I just had to create the sbin directory additionally as well.

You can find it [question]: brew link php71: Could not symlink sbin/php-fpm

Answer 10

Here is my installation script:

• brew install php@7.2
• brew link --force php@7.2
• brew services start php@7.2
• export PATH="/usr/local/opt/php@7.2/bin:$PATH"
• export PATH="/usr/local/opt/php@7.2/sbin:$PATH"

Now my output would be as:

$ php -v
PHP 7.2.25 (cli) (built: Nov 22 2019 10:27:28) ( NTS )
Copyright (c) 1997-2018 The PHP Group
Zend Engine v3.2.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2018 Zend Technologies
    with Zend OPcache v7.2.25, Copyright (c) 1999-2018, by Zend Technologies

I think the PATH environment setup is something matters. And it does show in instructions as part of the installation process though.

Hope it helps resolving your issue.