Shell Setup

Check Your Shell

macOS uses zsh by default (since Catalina). Check your shell:

echo $SHELL
# or
echo $0

Which File to Edit

Shell	Config file
zsh (macOS default)	~/.zshrc
bash	~/.bashrc or ~/.bash_profile

What to Add

Add the following line at the end of the appropriate file:

export PATH="/opt/php/bin:$PATH"

Alternative location

You can also add this line to ~/.zprofile (for zsh) or ~/.bash_profile (for bash) if you want the variable available only during login.

Reload Configuration

After saving the file, reload your shell configuration:

# For bash
source ~/.bashrc

# For zsh
source ~/.zshrc

Install PHP

Now you can install PHP:

# Update the package index
phm update

# Install PHP 8.5 with FPM and popular extensions
phm install php8.5-cli php8.5-fpm php8.5-redis php8.5-opcache

# Set as default version
phm use 8.5

Verification

Check that everything is set up correctly:

/opt/php/bin/php

which php
php -v
# Should show: PHP 8.5.x

Next step

If you want to use PHP with a web server, proceed to web server configuration.

Go to web servers →