How to get the home directory from a PHP CLI script?

Question

From the command line, I can get the home directory like this:

~/

How can I get the home directory inside my PHP CLI script?

Answer 1

This function is taken from the Drush project.

/**
 * Return the user's home directory.
 */
function drush_server_home() {
  // Cannot use $_SERVER superglobal since that's empty during UnitUnishTestCase
  // getenv('HOME') isn't set on Windows and generates a Notice.
  $home = getenv('HOME');
  if (!empty($home)) {
    // home should never end with a trailing slash.
    $home = rtrim($home, '/');
  }
  elseif (!empty($_SERVER['HOMEDRIVE']) && !empty($_SERVER['HOMEPATH'])) {
    // home on windows
    $home = $_SERVER['HOMEDRIVE'] . $_SERVER['HOMEPATH'];
    // If HOMEPATH is a root directory the path can end with a slash. Make sure
    // that doesn't happen.
    $home = rtrim($home, '\\/');
  }
  return empty($home) ? NULL : $home;
}