How Can I Easily Switch Between PHP Versions on Mac Osx

As a software developer, it’s common to work with different versions of PHP, especially if you’re working on multiple projects that require different PHP versions.

Mac OS X comes with a pre-installed version of PHP, but you may need to install additional versions to match the requirements of your projects.

In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to switch between different PHP versions on Mac OS X, making it easier for you to work with multiple projects without any compatibility issues.


Prerequisites

Before we begin, you’ll need to have the following:

  • Mac OS X
  • Homebrew (You can install it by running /usr/bin/ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)" in the terminal)

Installing Additional PHP Versions

To install additional PHP versions, we’ll use Homebrew.

First, run the following command to check if you already have Homebrew installed:

brew -v

If you don’t have Homebrew installed, run the command in the Prerequisites section.

Next, run the following command to see a list of available PHP versions:

brew search php

To install a specific version of PHP, run the following command, replacing <version> with the desired version number:

brew install php<version>

For example, if you want to install PHP 8.0, run the following command:

brew install php80

Switching Between PHP Versions

To switch between PHP versions, we’ll use the php command in the terminal.

The php command allows you to run the PHP interpreter, which is the program that processes your PHP code.

To check the current PHP version, run the following command:

php -v

To switch to a different PHP version, run the following command, replacing <version> with the desired version number:

sudo bash -c "echo 'export PATH="/usr/local/opt/php<version>/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bash_profile"

For example, if you want to switch to PHP 8.0, run the following command:

sudo bash -c "echo 'export PATH="/usr/local/opt/php80/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bash_profile"

Then, run the following command to make the changes take effect:

~/.bash_profile

Now, if you run the php -v command, you should see the new PHP version.


Conclusion

In this tutorial, we showed you how to switch between PHP versions on Mac OS X using Homebrew.

By following these steps, you can work with multiple projects that require different PHP versions without any compatibility issues.

If you have any questions or need further assistance, feel free to leave a comment.