Forem: Driss

PVM - PHP Version Manager for Windows

Driss — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 00:25:21 +0000

Original link to the article : Link

Managing multiple PHP versions on Windows has traditionally been a challenging task for developers. Enter PVM (PHP Version Manager), a command-line tool specifically designed to simplify PHP version management on Windows systems. This comprehensive guide will walk you through everything you need to know about PVM, from installation to advanced usage.

What is PVM ?

PVM is a powerful, command-line PHP version manager built specifically for Windows environments, it addresses the unique challenges Windows developers face when working with multiple PHP versions. What sets PVM apart is its comprehensive approach - it doesn't just manage PHP versions, but also handles extensions, php.ini configurations, and environment variables seamlessly.

Project Structure Overview

PVM follows a well-organized structure that separates concerns and maintains clean code architecture:

pvm/
├── pvm.bat                 # Main executable entry point
├── src/
│   ├── actions/            # Core functionality modules
│   │   ├── setup.ps1       # Installation and setup logic
│   │   ├── install.ps1     # PHP version installation
│   │   ├── use.ps1         # Version switching logic
│   │   ├── ini.ps1         # PHP configuration management
│   │   └── ...             # Other action modules
│   ├── core/               # Core system components
│   │   ├── config.ps1      # Configuration management
│   │   └── router.ps1      # Command routing logic
│   ├── functions/          # Utility functions
│   └── pvm.ps1             # Main PowerShell entry point
└── tests/                  # Test suite directory (Pester tests)
└── storage/                # Data and logging directory
    ├── data/               # Cached data and configurations
    ├── logs/               # Error logs and backups
    └── php/                # PHP installations directory

Key Features

Automated Setup Process: PVM now includes an intelligent setup command that handles PATH variable configuration automatically, eliminating manual environment setup.
Seamless Version Switching: Switch between PHP versions with a single command, making it easy to test applications across different PHP environments.
Extension Management: Built-in support for popular extensions like Xdebug and OPcache, with the ability to enable or disable them per installation.
Direct php.ini Management: Modify PHP settings and manage extensions directly from the command line without manually editing configuration files.
Custom Installation Directories: Install PHP versions in custom locations to suit your specific development setup.
Online Version Discovery: Fetch available PHP versions directly from online sources, ensuring you always have access to the latest releases.
Configuration Backup and Restore: Automatic backup of PATH variables and php.ini settings with easy restoration options.

Prerequisites

Windows 10/11
PowerShell 5.1 or later

Installation & Setup

Getting started with PVM has been significantly simplified with the new automated setup process:

Step 1: Clone the Repository

First, clone the PVM repository to your local machine:

git clone https://github.com/drissboumlik/pvm
cd pvm

Step 2: Automated Setup

Run the setup command to automatically configure PVM:

pvm setup

The setup process automatically:

Configures necessary environment variables
Adds PVM to your system PATH
Creates backup of your current PATH configuration
Sets up the PHP version switching mechanism

Command Reference

PVM provides a comprehensive set of commands for managing your PHP installations and configurations:

Getting Help

Display all available commands and their descriptions, serving as your quick reference guide.

pvm help

Display help for a specific command with description, usage and examples

pvm help <command> # Example : pvm help use

Display information about the environment

Display information about the current PHP (version, path, extensions, settings)

pvm info
pvm ini info

Display information about the current PHP extensions

pvm info extensions # pvm ini info extensions

Display information about the current PHP settings

pvm info settings # pvm ini info settings

Display information about the current PHP (version, path, extensions, settings) with specific <term> in their name

pvm info --search=<term> # pvm ini info --search=<term>
# Example : pvm info --search=cache

Checking Current Version

Shows which PHP version is currently active on your system.

pvm current

Listing PHP Versions

Display all PHP versions currently installed on your system.

pvm list # pvm ls

List installed versions with specific version in the name

pvm list --search=<version>
# Example: pvm list --search=8.2

List installed versions matching x86 and nts

pvm list [x86|x64] [ts|nts] 
# Example: pvm list x86 nts

View all PHP versions available for installation from your configured sources.

pvm list available # pvm ls available

List installable PHP versions from remote source matching x86 and nts

pvm list available [x86|x64] [ts|nts] 
# Example: pvm list available x86 nts

List available versions with specific version in the name

pvm list available --search=<version>
# Example: pvm list available --search=8.2

Installing PHP Versions

Basic Installation:

pvm install <version> # pvm i <version>
# Example: pvm install 8.4 / pvm i 8.4

Install a specific version for a specific arch & build type

pvm install <version> [x86|x64] [ts|nts]
# Example: pvm install 8.4 x64 nts # pvm i 8.4 x64 nts

Install a specific PHP version. Replace <version> with the desired version number (e.g., 7.4.33 or 8.2.0).

pvm install auto # pvm i auto
# Install the php version specified on your project.

Uninstalling PHP Versions

pvm uninstall <version> # pvm rm <version>
# Example: pvm uninstall 8.4 # pvm rm 8.4

Remove a specific PHP version from your system cleanly, including all associated files and configurations.

Switching Between Versions

pvm use <version> # Example: pvm use 8.4

Switch your active PHP version to the specified version, updating all necessary environment variables automatically.

pvm use auto

When run inside a PHP project, this command checks for a .php-version file and composer.json, then switches to the PHP version specified in either file.

PHP Configuration Management

One of PVM's most powerful features is its ability to manage PHP configurations and extensions directly from the command line:

Extension Management

Check extensions status:

pvm ini status <extension> # Example: pvm ini status xdebug opcache

Enable Extensions:

pvm ini enable xdebug opcache # Example: pvm ini enable xdebug opcache

Disable Extensions:

pvm ini disable xdebug opcache # Example: pvm ini disable xdebug opcache

PHP Settings Management

Set Configuration Values and change the status:

pvm ini set <setting>=<value> [--disable] # Default is enabling the setting
# Example: pvm ini set memory_limit=512M max_file_uploads=20
# Example: pvm ini set max_input_time=60 --disable

Get Configuration Values:

pvm ini get <setting>
# Example: pvm ini get memory_limit max_file_uploads

Install extensions from remote source

pvm ini install <extension>
# Example: pvm ini install opcache

List installed extensions

pvm ini list

List available extensions from remote source

pvm ini list available

List installed extensions with 'zip' in their name

pvm ini list --search=<extension>
# Example: pvm ini list --search=zip

List available extensions with 'zip' in their name

pvm ini list available --search=<extension>
# Example: pvm ini list available --search=zip

Restore Configuration:

pvm ini restore

Restore php.ini settings from backup, useful when you need to revert changes or start fresh.

Check Logs:

pvm log --pageSize=[number] # Default value is 5

This one will help you check the log file in a readable way, with pagination.

Manage PHP Configuration Profiles

Save current PHP configuration to a profile

pvm profile save <name> [description]
# Example: pvm profile save development
# Example: pvm profile save production "Production configuration"

Load and apply a saved profile

pvm profile load <name> # Example: pvm profile load development

List all available profiles

pvm profile list

Show detailed profile contents

pvm profile show <name> # Example: pvm profile show development

Delete a profile

pvm profile delete <name> # Example: pvm profile delete old-profile

Export profile to a JSON file

pvm profile export <name> [path]
# Example: pvm profile export development
# Example: pvm profile export dev ./backup.json

Import profile from a JSON file

pvm profile import <path> [name]
# Example: pvm profile import ./my-profile.json
# Example: pvm profile import ./profile.json custom-name

Profile Structure: Profiles are stored as JSON files in storage/data/profiles/ and contain:

Popular/common PHP settings (key-value pairs with enabled/disabled state)
Popular/common extensions (enabled/disabled state and type)
Metadata (name, description, creation date, PHP version)

Note: Only popular/common settings and extensions are saved in profiles. This keeps profiles focused and manageable.

Running Tests

Run tests against the PowerShell scripts in the repo — especially useful for contributors verifying changes before submitting a pull request:

Requirements

To run tests with, you need to have the Pester testing framework installed. Pester is a testing framework for PowerShell.

Open PowerShell as Administrator and run:

Install-Module -Name Pester -Force -SkipPublisherCheck

💡 If prompted to trust the repository, type Y and press Enter.

You can verify the installation with:

Get-Module -ListAvailable Pester

Run the tests

pvm test [files = (files inside the tests/ directory)] [--coverage[=<number>]] [--verbosity=(None|Normal|Detailed|Diagnostic)] [--tag=<tag>] [--sort=[coverage|duration|file]]

# Examples:
pvm test # .......................... Runs all tests with Normal (default) verbosity.
pvm test use install # .............. Runs only 'use.tests.ps1' and 'install.tests.ps1' files with Normal verbosity.
pvm test --verbosity=Detailed # ..... Runs all tests with Detailed verbosity.
pvm test --coverage # ............... Runs all tests and generates coverage report (target: 75%)
pvm test --coverage=80.5 # .......... Runs all tests and generates coverage report (target: 80.5%)
pvm test --sort=duration # .......... Runs all tests and sort results by duration
pvm test --tag=myTag #............... Runs helpers.tests.ps1 and list.tests.ps1 with Diagnostic verbosity and only runs tests with tag "myTag".

Logging and Storage System

PVM maintains essential files for troubleshooting and performance:

Key Files

Error Logging: storage/logs/error.log

Contains detailed error information when commands fail
Check this file first when troubleshooting installation or configuration issues

PATH Backup: storage/logs/path.bak.log

Automatic backup of your system's PATH variable created during setup
Used for system recovery if environment

variables need restoration
Available Versions Cache for faster performance:

Cached list of available PHP versions storage/data/available_versions.json
Cached list of available PHP extensions storage/data/available_extensions.json

Final Thoughts

PVM dramatically simplifies PHP version management on Windows, offering a seamless and developer-friendly experience that was long missing from the ecosystem. With its powerful command-line tools, automated setup, and deep integration with extensions and configuration files, PVM empowers developers to focus more on building applications.

What's Next?

Explore the full command list using pvm help
Install your first PHP version with pvm install <version>
Contribute or report issues on GitHub
Share your feedback and suggest features
👉 If you find PVM helpful, consider giving it a star ⭐ on GitHub, an upvote PVM on ProductHunt here or leave a review here) — it really helps others discover the project and keeps development going.

Switch php version on windows with one command

Driss — Mon, 25 Nov 2024 14:06:46 +0000

In this article I will be showing you how to switch between your PHP versions from your terminal without reopening it or using the "view advanced system settings".

1. Download & Install cmder

Go to https://cmder.app, download and extract the cmder zip where ever suits you, next checkout this posts How cmder made my life easier - part I and part II where you can find details on how to install cmder and configure your own aliases.

2. Prepare your php archive:

We will need for demo purposes to download different versions of php and to do that head to the PHP archive, and download the versions you want, after that extract them in a specific folder ("C:\php-archive" for example).

Once you're done open the "view advanced system settings" and create new variables for your different PHP versions (see image below).

Next, you will add one more variable which you will have the name "current_php" for example, this variable will hold your current php version any time you change it, then reference it inside the path variable (see image below).

3. Install chocolatey

Now that we have everything inside the advanced system settings set up, we will go to chocolatey.org and install chocolatey, which will allow you to update the environment variables.

Open Powershell with admin rights and just follow the instructions to install it the right way, when you're done type choco or choco -v in the terminal to see if you installed it successfully and which version you have.

4. Switch php version from terminal

First, start you terminal with admin rights ( otherwise the next steps won't work !! ), to switch your php version you need to type setx current_php [your_target_php_location] /m where [your_target_php_location] is the absolute path to the php version you want or use one of your php versions your defined here like this setx current_php %php7% /m, now you have switched php to version 7.0 in the path environment, but your terminal doesn't know that, to reload the updates, you need another command which is RefreshEnv.cmd, alias refreshenv, this one comes with chocolatey, chekout this Update-SessionEnvironment.

5. The one command I promised you

Last step is to make a helpful alias to make the process even easier, create an alias like this: setphp=setx current_php %$1% /m $t refreshenv now we can take the previous example ( setx current_php %php7% /m ) and do this setphp php7, php7 will replace the $1 variable inside using the alias which will be equivalent to setx current_php %php7% /m $t refreshenv, then check with php --version.

In the 4th step we talked about starting your terminal with admin rights, but of course you won't remember to do that each time, so to resolve this issue, we will need something extra.

# Parameters:
param( [string]$variableName, [string]$variableValue )

# Check if running as administrator
If (-not ([Security.Principal.WindowsPrincipal] [Security.Principal.WindowsIdentity]::GetCurrent()).IsInRole([Security.Principal.WindowsBuiltInRole] "Administrator")) {
    # Relaunch as administrator with hidden window
    $arguments = "-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File `"$PSCommandPath`" -variableName `"$variableName`" -variableValue `"$variableValue`""
    Start-Process powershell -ArgumentList $arguments -Verb RunAs -WindowStyle Hidden
    exit
}

if ($variableName -and $variableValue) {
    $variableValueContent = [System.Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable($variableValue, [System.EnvironmentVariableTarget]::Machine)
    if ($variableValueContent) {
        [System.Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable($variableName, $variableValueContent, [System.EnvironmentVariableTarget]::Machine)
    } else {
        [System.Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable($variableName, $variableValue, [System.EnvironmentVariableTarget]::Machine)
    }
    Write-Host "Environment variable '$variableName' set to '$variableValue' at the system level."
} else {
    Write-Host "Please provide both a variable name and value."
}

Save this powershell script somewhere under the name set-env.ps1 and head to your cmder terminal, create an alias like this setvar=powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "/your/path/to/set-env.ps1" $1 $2 && refreshenv, this alias will get 2 parameters and pass them to the powershell script, the paramtere $1 will hold the environment variable name, and $2 will hold the environment variable value, followed by the chocolatey command to refresh everything for your terminal, the script then checks for "administrative privileges" to run the setx command with admin rights.

Since we previously talked about a "current_php" variable, we will be using it for the example, to use our new alias setvar to change the php version even if we didn't start cmder with admin rights, we type setvar current_php php7, or if you like to use the absolute path type setvar current_php your/target/php/location.

6. Issues you might encounter

The issues I found after switching php version, is that the alias keyword and all the supported linux commands no longer works on cmder, and the solution I found for that so far is to add "C:\Cmder\vendor\git-for-windows\usr\bin" and "C:\Cmder\vendor\bin" to the path environment variable.

7. Final Thoughts

Of course you can do something like this, create an alias php8 for /your/path/to/php8/php.exe and run your php code just by typing php8 my-script.php but when it comes to something like composer or anything that relies on your path variable, then you will need something more persistante, hence this article.

One more thing, as you have probably concluded, you can use setx command and chocolatey to update any environment variable you like.

How cmder made my life easier

Driss — Mon, 04 May 2020 01:02:31 +0000

As developer I always look for ways to automate and/or shortcut my day to day tasks, Today I would love to share with you my favorite command line tool and show you how you can benefit from it’s features.

Get Cmder

First things first, this is for windows users and here is the link to download cmder https://cmder.net/
scroll down to download section.
Personnaly I take the Full version (Both of them are Portable versions)

Then you can head to the shortcut section (very useful)

Bonus

Here is a bonus
Personnaly I extract cmder inside C:/cmder directory then I add the cmder path like this
1- Open the 'Advanced system settings'

2- Got to 'Environment Variables..'

3- Select 'Path' then click on 'Edit...'

4- Click 'New' and add the cmder path

After that ,you can type the cmder on the directory path field

and this will open cmder pointing to that directory

Wouff, finally lets get down to business

Visual Part

Note :

Before we start, you need to know that cmder supports linux commands such as touch file, nano file .. etc, which is amazing already 🥳.

I always hated 😣 to write commands on the same line on the default command tool windows, which is not the case with cmder.

Tabs, Tabs, Tabs

Cmder allows to create tabs which is very useful when you are running multiple stuff like angular, node, laravel artisan, ...etc and this prevents from being overwhelmed with lot of opened command windows - One window, Multiple tabs 😎

Another thing about tabs is that (I love this 🤭) you can split into two (or more) sections

To make this happen you (images below)
1- Got to tasks section
2- Click the + button to add new task
3- Give it a name
4- Add this code to the snippet section

-cur_console:s50H:d: -cur_console:C:C:\cmder\icons\cmder.ico cmd /k ""%ConEmuDir%..\init.bat" "

5- Add a Hotkey if you like

Searching...

Let's say you type a command and you get an output and (may be you're overwhelmed 😱 by how large 😵 the output is), and you want to search for a text, you can use (image below)

And just like bash, you can search for previous typed commands via this shortcut 'Ctrl + R', (1) is what I'm typing and (2) is what matches my search

Tech Part

Simple alias

Now I will tell you about one of my favorite things about cmder "ALIASES" 🤩🤩.
As a developer I type lot of command lines but there are certain commands that we type more than others : (example for (git : git status, git commit -m "message") or (angular : ng g c myComponent) or (laravel : php artisan make:migration myMigration) or ..... etc)
so to create an alias you just have to type

alias 'the alias you like'='the command you hate to write every time'

example here : replacing git status with gs

alias gs=git status

Alias with parameters

Q: But wait what if I want to have parameters in my commands
A: I didn't create cmder 🤣 ... just kidding, of course you can add parameters, here is an example of replacing git add file/directory

alias ga=git add $*

the $* means what ever comes after your alias (your parameter)

Q: What if I want to have a parameter in the middle of my command
A: Again, I didn't ... 🤣🤣, of course you can
Here is how you can do and use it (example : creating laravel controller)

alias pamkc=php artisan make:controller $*Controller

pamkc => initials of 'php artisan make:controller
to use this alias :

pamkc Post

this will create a PostController.php file

Q: What if I want to have more than one parameter in my command
A: Again, of course you can
You can do something like (example : serve a laravel app on different host and port)

alias pashp=php artisan serve --host $1 --port $2

to use this alias :

pashp 0.0.0.0 8888

Be careful about the order of your parameters ($1 = 0.0.0.0 and $2 = 8888) 😬

Before you ask ✋ any other question, here is how you can use the same parameter in more than one place (example : creating a laravel factory for a specific model)

alias pamkf = php artisan make:factory $1Factory --model=$1

to use this alias :

pamkf Post

The result will be

php artisan make:factory PostFactory --model=Post

One alias, multiple commands

Now let's see how to chain more than one command in one alias.
Example: Sometimes you want to switch to another partition, so you are in C:, and you want to switch to E:\MyDirectory, you type 'cd E:\MyDirectory' but you see nothing until you type 'E:', then your switch is done and you're now in 'E:\MyDirectory', this brings me to another thing I like which is creating aliases for directories.
Example :

alias desktop=cd C:\Users\UserName\Desktop\ $t C:

which will take me to my desktop then ($t) execute second command 'C:' to force it into the 'C:' partition (just in case I'm in a different partition)

You can also make alias for files / programs
Example :

alias npp="C:\Program Files\Notepad++\notepad++.exe" $*

Here I'm running notepad++ editor with parameter $* which is the file i want to open.

Final Thoughts

Personally I'm currently satisfied with cmder, but I can't say if it's the best, may be other tools exists out there way better than cmder, but the idea is about "Always look for ways to get things done better, faster, cleaner".
Thanks for reading

Before you close this window I would like to share my list of aliases I use

For Explorer

e.=explorer .
exp=explorer $*

For Git:

ga.=git add .

ga=git add $*

gaa=git add .

gs=git status $*

gb=git branch $*

gc=git commit

gck=git checkout $*

gcl=git clone $*

gcm=git commit -m "$*"

gd=git diff $*

gi=git init

gl=git log

gm=git merge

gpl=git pull $*

gplbit=git pull bitbucket master $*

gplgit=git pull github master

gplo=git pull origin $*

gplom=git pull origin master $*

gps=git push $*

gpsbit=git push bitbucket master

gpsgit=git push github master

gpso=git push origin $*

gpsom=git push origin master $*

gr=git reset $*

grfl=git reflog $*

grh=git reset --hard $*

grhh=git reset --hard HEAD

grs=git reset --soft $*

grm=git rm $*

grv=git remote -v

For NPM

ni=npm install $*

nu=npm update

nrb=npm run build

nrd=npm run dev

nrs=npm run serve

nrw=npm run watch

For Composer

ci=composer install

cu=composer update

cmpref=composer dump-autoload

For Angular

nggc=ng generate component --skipTests $*

nggcs=ng generate component $*

nggd=ng generate directive --spec=false $*

nggds=ng generate directive $*

nggs=ng generate service --spec=false $*

ngs=ng serve

ngsa=ng serve --aot

For Laravel

pa=php artisan $*

padbs=php artisan db:seed $*

pakg=php artisan key:generate

pam=php artisan migrate

pamf=php artisan migrate:fresh

pamfs=php artisan migrate:fresh --seed

pamk=php artisan make:$*

pamkall=php artisan make:model $1 -m -c -f $t php artisan make:seeder $1sTableSeeder

pamkc=php artisan make:controller $*Controller

pamkcmp=php artisan make:component $*

pamkcr=php artisan make:controller $*Controller -r

pamkf=php artisan make:factory $1Factory --model=$1

pamkfm=php artisan make:factory $1Factory --model=$2

pamkmdl=php artisan make:model $*

pamkmg=php artisan make:migration create_$*_table

pamkmm=php artisan make:model $1 -m

pamkmmc=php artisan make:model $1 -m -c

pamkmmcr=php artisan make:model $1 -m -c -r

pamkr=php artisan make:resource $*Resource

pamkrc=php artisan make:resource $*Collection

pamks=php artisan make:seeder $1sTableSeeder

pams=php artisan migrate --seed

parl=php artisan route:list

pas=php artisan serve

pash=php artisan serve --host $*

pashp=php artisan serve --host $1 --port $2

pasp=php artisan serve --port $*

pasph=php artisan serve --port $1 --host $2

pat=php artisan tinker

pav=php artisan --version

rfl=composer dumpautoload $t php artisan optimize $t php artisan cache:clear $t php artisan view:clear

For Docker

dc=docker-compose $*

dcx=docker-compose exec $*

dk=docker $*

dkim=docker image $*

dkimls=docker image ls $*

dkims=docker images $*

dkimsa=docker images -a $*

dkll=docker kill $*

dksp=docker system prune $*

dkspa=docker system prune -a $*

dps=docker ps $*

dpsa=docker ps -a $*

rmcn=docker container rm $*

rmim=docker image rm $*