Switch between PHP and HHVM in Terminal

February 20, 2015

This is something I’m trying to remember, and it’s something that’s been answered before here.

I’ve beginning to experiment with HHVM as an alternative to using PHP, so I figured this would be useful to try out. Switching out the language that’s called when using PHP on the terminal is as simple as using this command:

sudo /usr/bin/update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/php php /usr/bin/hhvm 60

This will do it without any input, and you should be able to check by running. php -v. If you get hhvm version stuff, you should be good.

My next important question was how to switch back to using PHP. Again, simple:

sudo /usr/bin/update-alternatives --config php

It will then ask you to select from a list of options. My options were:

There are 2 choices for the alternative php (providing /usr/bin/php).

  Selection    Path            Priority   Status
------------------------------------------------------------
  0            /usr/bin/hhvm    60        auto mode
  1            /usr/bin/hhvm    60        manual mode
* 2            /usr/bin/php5    50        manual mode

Press enter to keep the current choice[*], or type selection number: