Workaround in case of missing php-cgi binary alias php-cgi="php -r '"'parse_str(implode("&", array_slice($argv, 2)), $_GET); include($argv[1]);'"' --" php-cgi test1.php foo=123 If file: echo 'You set foo to '. $_GET['foo'] cat test1.php Will output: You set foo to 123.