As of version 4.3.0 PHP has a robust, reliable command-line interface. php -h Usage: php [options] [-f] [args...] php [options] -r [args...] php [options] [-- args...] -a Run interactively -c | Look for php.ini file in this directory -n No php.ini file will be used -d foo[=bar] Define INI entry foo with value 'bar' -e Generate extended information for debugger/profiler -f Parse . -h This help -i PHP information -l Syntax check only (lint) -m Show compiled in modules -r Run PHP without using script tags -s Display colour syntax highlighted source. -v Version number -w Display source with stripped comments and whitespace. -z Load Zend extension . args... Arguments passed to script. Use -- args when first argument starts with - or script is read from stdin]]> This means that you can use it instead of Perl, Python, shell scripts, if you so desire: #!/usr/bin/php <?php echo "Hello World\n"; Or directly evaluate a piece of code: php -r 'for($i = 1; $i < 7; $i++) { echo "$i^2: ", ($i*$i), "\n"; }' 1^2: 1 2^2: 4 3^2: 9 4^2: 16 5^2: 25 6^2: 36]]>