Install PHP8, PHP7 on macOS Big Sure
#php#macos#brew
Xun Zhou

Xun Zhou @vikbert

About: Senior Software Engineer at Schwarz IT, focuses on Symfony PHP & React.js at work, makes Apps & Chrome Extensions with TypeScript, React, Svelte and Vue in spare time <https://vikbert.github.io/>

Location:
Berlin, Germany
Joined:
May 9, 2019

Install PHP8, PHP7 on macOS Big Sure

Publish Date: Oct 1 '21
13 6

Only PHP7.2 through 7.4 are officially supported by Brew, but these have to be build which is pretty slow. For the latest version of PHP, I am going to use the new tap from @shivammahtur as there are many versions pre-built.

➜ brew tap shivammathur/php

# different versions of PHP
➜ brew install shivammathur/php/php@7.4
➜ brew install shivammathur/php/php@8.0
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After the successful installation, you are able to find the php.ini for each version of PHP in the following directories:

/usr/local/etc/php/7.4/php.ini
/usr/local/etc/php/8.0/php.ini
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or show the php.iniby using the command:

➜ php -i | grep php.ini
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switch PHP version 

# switch to 7.4
brew unlink php && brew link --overwrite --force php@7.4

# switch to 8.0
brew unlink php && brew link --overwrite --force php@8.0
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define the aliases 

alias php74="brew unlink php && brew link --overwrite --force php@7.4"
alias php80="brew unlink php && brew link --overwrite --force php@8.0"
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then type php74 or php80 to switch php versions.

Comments 6 total

  • eshimischi
    eshimischiOct 1, 2021

    curl -L gist.githubusercontent.com/rhukste... > /usr/local/bin/sphp
    chmod +x /usr/local/bin/sphp

    sphp 8.0

  • Valentino Menegatti
    Valentino MenegattiOct 9, 2022

    nice,
    in my case:
    alias php74="brew unlink php@8.0 && brew link --overwrite --force php@7.4"
    alias php80="brew unlink php@7.4 && brew link --overwrite --force php@8.0"

  • Sam Ng
    Sam NgOct 13, 2023

    Hey fellow macOS user! I've recently discovered something that's been a game-changer for my PHP development: servbay.dev . It's got all versions of PHP, MariaDB, and PostgreSQL, and even throws redis and memcached into the mix.

    The best part? You can run multiple versions of PHP instances all at once. Switching between them for debugging and testing is a breeze. A couple of clicks and you're fully set up. Trust me, it's made my PHP dev life a whole lot smoother. Might be worth a shot for you to check it out!

    • Emanuel Simmond
      Emanuel SimmondApr 10, 2025

      WOW ! BIG thanks for the link to servbay.dev !

      A life changer. Thanks again

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