Configure the PHP CLI in macOS to use MAMP PHP binaries

readme.md

Pre-requisites

Find MAMP's installed PHP version(s) you want to use the PHP CLI for:

$ ls -l /Applications/MAMP/bin/php/

Configure PHP CLI in macOS to use MAMP's PHP

1. First, open your local user's .bash_profile in edit mode, in order to add aliases for accessing the PHP CLI locally

$ pico ~/.bash_profile

2. Then add any alias to any of MAMP's PHP binaries and your preferred command to access each of them:

alias php5=/Applications/MAMP/bin/php/php5.6.37/bin/php
alias php7=/Applications/MAMP/bin/php/php7.2.8/bin/php

3. Save and exit the editor & reload your .bash_profile

$ source ~/.bash_profile

Alternative: changing the default php shell command to a MAMP PHP binary

If you just want to have the php command by default using a MAMP PHP binary – instead of the macOS one, update your .bash_profile as follows:

PATH=/Applications/MAMP/Library/bin:/Applications/MAMP/bin/php/php7.2.8/bin:$PATH

Check if everything works as expected

Use e.g. the Version info to check if your alias or PATH changes work as expected:

$ php5 -v
    PHP 5.6.37 (cli) (built: Aug 28 2018 16:24:00) 
    Copyright (c) 1997-2016 The PHP Group
    Zend Engine v2.6.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2016 Zend Technologies
        with Xdebug v2.5.5, Copyright (c) 2002-2017, by Derick Rethans
$ php7 -v
    PHP 7.2.8 (cli) (built: Aug 28 2018 16:32:29) ( NTS )
    Copyright (c) 1997-2018 The PHP Group
    Zend Engine v3.2.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2018 Zend Technologies

Credits

• https://stackoverflow.com/questions/954910/how-to-run-a-php-script-from-the-command-line-with-mamp
• https://io.serendipityhq.com/experience/how-to-make-terminal-use-mamps-php-in-only-3-steps/