Installing Php For Mac

« back — written by Brent on November 28, 2019

MacOS Package (.pkg) Installer. The easiest way to install MacPorts on a Mac is by downloading the pkg or dmg for Catalina, Mojave, High Sierra, Sierra, El Capitan, Yosemite, Mavericks, Mountain Lion, Lion, Snow Leopard, Leopard or Tiger and running the system's Installer by double-clicking on the pkg contained therein, following the on-screen instructions until completion.

Next, upgrade PHP: brew upgrade php. Check the current version by running php -v: php -v. Restart Nginx or Apache: sudo nginx -s reload sudo apachectl restart. And make sure that your local web server also uses PHP 7.4 by visiting this script: # index.php, accessible to your web server phpinfo; die ; The version should show 7.4.x.
Download the files. Download the latest PHP 5 ZIP package from www.php.net/downloads.php.

Interested in more?

I'm writing a new book called Front Line PHP. It's about PHP 8 and modern PHP development in general. I plan to release it in December, you can already subscribe to the mailing list to stay up to date!

# Upgrading with Homebrew

Start by making sure brew is up-to-date:

Next, upgrade PHP:

Check the current version by running php -v:

Restart Nginx or Apache:

And make sure that your local web server also uses PHP 7.4 by visiting this script:

The version should show 7.4.x.

Note: if you're using Laravel Valet, please keep on reading,you need some extra steps in order for the web server to properly work.

# Valet

If you're using Laravel Valet, you should do the following steps to upgrade it:

Now run valet install:

# Extensions

Homebrew doesn't support the installation of PHP extensions anymore, you should use pecl instead.I personally use Imagick, Redis and Xdebug.

They can be installed like so:

You can run pecl list to see which extensions are installed:

You can search for other extensions using pecl search:

Make sure to restart your web server after installing new packages:

If you're using Laravel Valet, you should restart it as well.

Make sure all extensions are correctly installed and loaded by checking both your PHP webserver and CLI installs:

If extensions aren't properly loaded, there are two easy fixes.

First, make sure the extensions are added in the correct ini file. You can run php --ini to know which file is loaded:

Now check the ini file:

Note that if you're testing installed extensions via the CLI, you don't need to restart nginx, apache or Valet.

The second thing you can do, if you're updating from an older PHP version which also used pecl to install extension; is to reinstall every extension individually.

# Last step

Finally you should test and upgrade your projects for PHP 7.4 compatibility.

XAMPP is a free distribution package that makes it easy to install Apache Web Server, PHP, PEAR, and MySQL. Before installing XAMPP, you should turn off any other web servers and instances of MySQL you have running on your Mac.

Installing XAMPP on a Mac

Download XAMPP for Mac OSX - Be sure to select the proper version of PHP. For Webucator classes, any version after 5 will be fine.
Open the downloaded file (the DMG-Image).
Drag and drop the XAMPP folder into your Applications folder.

Starting XAMPP on OSX

To start XAMPP simply open XAMPP Control (by going to /Applications/XAMPP/manager-osx.app in Finder) and start Apache and MySQL on the Manage Servers tab.

If MySQL Does Not Start

If your MySQL server isn't starting, you may need to set the permissions for it using Terminal with this command:

Testing your OSX XAMPP Installation

In your web browser, go to http://localhost. You should see the start page of XAMPP:

Class File Permissions

Cmd+click on the ApplicationsXAMPPxamppfileshtdocs folder and select 'Get Info'.
If the lock symbol at the bottom indicates that this information is locked, click the lock icon to unlock, and enter your user credentials.
Once the settings are unlocked, choose 'everyone' under 'Sharing & Permissions' and change the option to 'Read & Write'.

Class Files

Download the class files.
After downloading the class files, navigate to ApplicationsXAMPPxamppfileshtdocs and create a new folder named Webucator and extract your class files in that folder.

Setting the MySQL Password on Macs

Installing Mysql For Mac

The PHP files use 'pwdpwd' for the MySQL root password, while the default password is NO password.
Change the password to pwdpwd by opening Terminal (Applications > Utilities > Terminal) and enter:

You will be asked to enter your Mac password; enter it and press enter. Then you will be asked if you want to set a password for your XAMPP pages, then for MySQL, and then for MySQL/phpMyAdmin user...to all of these just type 'n' for no and press enter.

Then it will say:

Enter 'y' for 'yes, let me set a password for the root user' and press Enter
Enter the password pwdpwd. You will be asked to enter it again for confirmation.
Quit Terminal (Cmd+Q) and restart Apache and MySQL using the XAMPP Control Panel.

Testing phpMyAdmin

Go to http://localhost
Click on phpMyAdmin under Tools
Enter 'root' for username
Enter 'pwdpwd' for password

You should be able to get in.

Installing Northwind Database using XAMPP

NOTE: you should download the class files below before following these instructions, as it contains the Northwinds Database file(s).

To install the Northwind database used in class, click on the 'phpMyAdmin' link on the left navigation bar of the XAMPP home page. That should take you to http://localhost/phpmyadmin.
If it asks you to login, the username is root and the password is blank (unless you have already changed it to something else, like pwdpwd).
On that page, click on the Import link under the Localhost heading.
Browse to the Northwind-MySQL.sql file in your class files.
Click the Go button on the bottom right of the page.
You should get a Success message and Northwind should be added to the Database dropdown menu on the upper left of the page.

Recommended Editor

Visual Studio Code ( Download, Install, and Set up)
- While you may use a different editor or IDE, Visual Studio Code is an excellent IDE to learn to code on. It provides a nice balance of power and simplicity and it is available on Windows and Mac.

Install Php For Mac

Designate your testing server in Dreamweaver

NOTE: The following only applies if you are using Dreamweaver. If you are not, please ignore this section.

Go to Site > New Site.
In the Site Setup dialog, fill in the Site Name (e.g., PHP) and browse to the Local Site Folder (e.g., ApplicationsXAMPPxamppfileshtdocs).
Choose the Servers tab.
At the bottom of the box on the right, click +.
On the Basic tab, provide a Server Name, set Connect using to Local/Network, ensure the Server Folder matches the local site folder you specified in step 2, and set the Web URL to http://localhost/Webucator/ClassFiles/.
Click the Advanced button.
In the Server Model field, select PHP MySQL.
Click Save. The server should appear in the table on the Servers tab.
Make sure that both the Remote and Testing checkboxes are checked.
Click Save.

Testing PHP Files

All your class files should be located in ApplicationsXAMPPxamppfileshtdocsWebucatorClassFiles

2 Methods for Testing Files in Browser

To test any of the class files in your browser, say ApplicationsXAMPPxamppfileshtdocsWebucatorClassFilesPHPBasicsDemosHelloWorld.php, you can use 1 of 2 methods:

Method 1:

Go to http://localhost/Webucator/ClassFiles/PHPBasics/Demos/HelloWorld.php in your web browser.
Follow the same pattern to view all other class files; basically the ApplicationsXAMPPxamppfileshtdocs gets changed to http://localhost/

Method 2:

Go to http://localhost/Webucator/ClassFiles/ in your web browser.
Bookmark that page in your browser for easy access to it from now on.
From there, you can see all the lesson folders and drill down to any class file for testing/viewing

And that's it

Download Php For Mac

Happy Mac XAMPPing!