ini_get

(PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 7, PHP 8)

ini_get — Gets the value of a configuration option

Description

ini_get(string $option): string|false

Returns the value of the configuration option on success.

Parameters

option: The configuration option name.

Return Values

Returns the value of the configuration option as a string on success, or an empty string for null values. Returns false if the configuration option doesn't exist.

Examples

Example #1 A few ini_get() examples

<?php

/*
Our php.ini contains the following settings:

display_errors = On
register_globals = Off
post_max_size = 8M
*/

echo 'display_errors = ' . ini_get('display_errors') . "\n";
echo 'register_globals = ' . (int) ini_get('register_globals') . "\n";
echo 'post_max_size = ' . ini_get('post_max_size') . "\n";
echo 'post_max_size + 1 = ' . (rtrim(ini_get('post_max_size'), 'KMG') + 1) . "\n";
echo 'post_max_size in bytes = ' . return_bytes(ini_get('post_max_size'));

function return_bytes($val)
{
$val = trim($val);
$num = (int) rtrim($val, 'KMG');
$last = strtolower($val[strlen($val) - 1]);

    switch ($last) {
// The 'G' modifier is available
case 'g':
$num = $num * 1024 * 1024 * 1024;
            break;
        case 'm':
$num = $num * 1024 * 1024;
            break;
        case 'k':
$num *= 1024;
            break;
    }

    return $num;
}

?>

The above example will output something similar to:

display_errors = 1
register_globals = 0
post_max_size = 8M
post_max_size+1 = 9
post_max_size in bytes = 8388608

Notes

Note: When querying boolean values
A boolean ini value of off will be returned as an empty string or "0" while a boolean ini value of on will be returned as "1". The function can also return the literal string of INI value.

Note: When querying memory size values
Many ini memory size values, such as upload_max_filesize, are stored in the php.ini file in shorthand notation. ini_get() will return the exact string stored in the php.ini file and NOT its int equivalent. Attempting normal arithmetic functions on these values will not have otherwise expected results. The example above shows one way to convert shorthand notation into bytes, much like how the PHP source does it.

Note:
ini_get() can't read "array" ini options such as pdo.dsn.*, and returns false in this case.

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User Contributed Notes 12 notes

down

Stas Trefilov, OpteamIS ¶

14 years ago

another version of return_bytes which returns faster and does not use multiple multiplications (sorry:). even if it is resolved at compile time it is not a good practice;
no local variables are allocated;
the trim() is omitted (php already trimmed values when reading php.ini file);
strtolower() is replaced by second case which wins us one more function call for the price of doubling the number of cases to process (may slower the worst-case scenario when ariving to default: takes six comparisons instead of three comparisons and a function call);
cases are ordered by most frequent goes first (uppercase M-values being the default sizes);
specs say we must handle integer sizes so float values are converted to integers and 0.8G becomes 0;
'Gb', 'Mb', 'Kb' shorthand byte options are not implemented since are not in specs, see
http://www.php.net/manual/en/faq.using.php#faq.using.shorthandbytes

<?php
function return_bytes ($size_str)
{
    switch (substr ($size_str, -1))
    {
        case 'M': case 'm': return (int)$size_str * 1048576;
        case 'K': case 'k': return (int)$size_str * 1024;
        case 'G': case 'g': return (int)$size_str * 1073741824;
        default: return $size_str;
    }
}
?>

down

devsrealmGuy ¶

3 years ago

Here is another way to get the result in bytes using PHP8

<?php

/**
     * @param string $size
     * @return int
     * @author DevsrealmGuy
     */
public function getBytes(string $size): int
{
$size = trim($size);

#
        # Separate the value from the metric(i.e MB, GB, KB)
        #
preg_match('/([0-9]+)[\s]*([a-zA-Z]+)/', $size, $matches);

$value = (isset($matches[1])) ? $matches[1] : 0;
$metric = (isset($matches[2])) ? strtolower($matches[2]) : 'b';

#
        # Result of $value multiplied by the matched case
        # Note: (1024 ** 2) is same as (1024 * 1024) or pow(1024, 2)
        #
$value *= match ($metric) {
'k', 'kb' => 1024,
'm', 'mb' => (1024 ** 2),
'g', 'gb' => (1024 ** 3),
't', 'tb' =>  (1024 ** 4),
            default => 0
};

        return (int)$value;
    }

#
        # TEST: This default to 0 if it doesn't conform with the match standard
        #
echo getBytes('2GB') . "</br>";
# OUTPUT: 2147483648
echo getBytes('4tb') . "</br>";
# OUTPUT: 4398046511104
echo getBytes('5345etrgrfd') . "</br>";
# OUTPUT: 0
echo getBytes('357568336586') . "</br>";
# OUTPUT: 0
?>

down

IceNV ¶

7 years ago

Be aware that max_execution_time can be altered by XDebug.

While debugging a script locally that made use of <?php ini_get('max_execution_time'); ?> it returned 0 when XDebug remote debugging was enabled and the IDE was listening to it.

It makes sense, since debugging manually takes time so we don't want the script to time out ; but in that particular case, it made it look to the script like max_execution_time was 0, so calculations were wrong.

You can see in phpinfo() that local value is 0 in that case, but master value is the correct one you set in your php.ini.

down

filh at filh dot org ¶

18 years ago

Concerning the value retourned, it depends on how you set it.
I had the problem with horde-3 which test the safe_mode value.
THan :
- if you set the value with php_admin_value safe_mode Off (or On) ini_get returns the string
- if you set the value with php_admin_flag safe_mode Off (or On) ini_get returns the boolean.

down

Ivo Mandalski ¶

12 years ago

This version of return_bytes takes care of the MB, GB, KB cases along with the M,G,K ones.
Hope this is helpful!

<?php
public static function return_bytes ($val)
    {
        if(empty($val))return 0;

$val = trim($val);

preg_match('#([0-9]+)[\s]*([a-z]+)#i', $val, $matches);

$last = '';
        if(isset($matches[2])){
$last = $matches[2];
        }

        if(isset($matches[1])){
$val = (int) $matches[1];
        }

        switch (strtolower($last))
        {
            case 'g':
            case 'gb':
$val *= 1024;
            case 'm':
            case 'mb':
$val *= 1024;
            case 'k':
            case 'kb':
$val *= 1024;
        }

        return (int) $val;
    }
?>

down

Joe Huss detain at interserver dot net ¶

2 years ago

Here is a version combining a few of the examples here that does *not* require php8 nor does it generate a warning

/**
* gets the value in bytes converted from a human readable string like 10G'
* 
* @param mixed $val the human readable/shorthand version of the value
* @return int the value converted to bytes
*/
function return_bytes($val) {
    $val = trim($val);
    preg_match('/([0-9]+)[\s]*([a-zA-Z]+)/', $val, $matches);
    $value = (isset($matches[1])) ? intval($matches[1]) : 0;
    $metric = (isset($matches[2])) ? strtolower($matches[2]) : 'b';
    switch ($metric) {
        case 'tb':
        case 't':
            $value *= 1024;
        case 'gb':
        case 'g':
            $value *= 1024;
        case 'mb':
        case 'm':
            $value *= 1024;
        case 'kb':
        case 'k':
            $value *= 1024;
    }
    return $value;
}

down

david dot tulloh at infaze dot com dot au ¶

19 years ago

You can set custom entries in the ini file to provide globals such as database details.
However these must be retrieved with get_cfg_var, ini_get won't work.

down

-1

bishop@php ¶

8 years ago

Yet another implementation of return_bytes:

<?php
function return_bytes($val)
{
assert('1 === preg_match("/^\d+([kmg])?$/i", $val)');
    static $map = array ('k' => 1024, 'm' => 1048576, 'g' => 1073741824);
    return (int)$val * @($map[strtolower(substr($val, -1))] ?: 1);
}
?>

If you're using PHP >= 7, you might replace ?: with ?? to avoid the use of the @ silencer.

down

-1

peter ¶

16 years ago

The above example function called return_bytes() assumes that ini_get('upload_max_filesize') delivers only one letter at the end. As I've seen 'Mb' and things like that, I'd suggest to change the $last = ... part into $last = strtolower(substr($val,strlen($val/1),1)).
I'd call it $unit then.

down

-3

nicolas dot grekas+php at gmail dot com ¶

15 years ago

Here is how to accurately test for boolean php.ini values:

<?php

function ini_get_bool($a)
{
$b = ini_get($a);

    switch (strtolower($b))
    {
    case 'on':
    case 'yes':
    case 'true':
        return 'assert.active' !== $a;

    case 'stdout':
    case 'stderr':
        return 'display_errors' === $a;

    default:
        return (bool) (int) $b;
    }
}

?>

down

-3

Der Graph ¶

20 years ago

It might be useful for included scripts that include other files to extend the 'include_path' variable:


<?php ini_set('include_path',ini_get('include_path').':../includes:');  ?>



Sometimes, it may also be useful to store the current 'include_path' in a variable, overwrite it, include, and then restore the old 'include_path'.

down

-4

bishop at php dot net ¶

8 years ago

In a similar vein, converting flags to booleans proper:

<?php
function return_boolean($val)
{
    static $map = array ('on' => true, 'true' => true, 'off' => false, 'false' => false);
    return @($map[strtolower($val)] ?: (bool)$val);
}
?>

If you're using PHP >= 7, consider replacing ?: with ?? and removing the @ silencer.

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ini_get

Description

Parameters

Return Values

Examples

Notes

See Also

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User Contributed Notes 12 notes