How can I easily switch between PHP versions on Mac OSX?

Question

I would like to test my application on PHP 5.3 up to PHP 7.0.

Where and how can I install the versions and how can I switch them by running a small script?

Answer 1

i think unlink & link php versions are not enough because we are often using php with apache(httpd), so need to update httpd.conf after switch php version.

i have write shell script for disable/enable php_module automatically inside httpd.conf, look at line 46 to line 54 https://github.com/dangquangthai/switch-php-version-on-mac-sierra/blob/master/switch-php#L46

Follow my steps:

1) Check installed php versions by brew, for sure everything good

> brew list | grep php
#output
php56
php56-intl
php56-mcrypt
php71
php71-intl
php71-mcrypt

2) Run script

> switch-php 71 # or switch-php 56
#output
PHP version [71] found
Switching from [php56] to [php71] ... 
Unlink php56 ... [OK] and Link php71 ... [OK]
Updating Apache2.4 Configuration /usr/local/etc/httpd/httpd.conf ... [OK]
Restarting Apache2.4 ... [OK]
PHP 7.1.11 (cli) (built: Nov  3 2017 08:48:02) ( NTS )
Copyright (c) 1997-2017 The PHP Group
Zend Engine v3.1.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2017 Zend Technologies

3) Finally, when your got above message, check httpd.conf, in my laptop:

vi /usr/local/etc/httpd/httpd.conf

You can see near by LoadModule lines

LoadModule php7_module /usr/local/Cellar/php71/7.1.11_22/libexec/apache2/libphp7.so
#LoadModule php5_module /usr/local/Cellar/php56/5.6.32_8/libexec/apache2/libphp5.so

4) open httpd://localhost/info.php

i hope it helpful