How to Change Default PHP Version on Ubuntu

Posted on by Majid

Switch to PHP 8.2

Run the following command to disable Apache module for other PHP versions

sudo a2dismod php*

Now, enable PHP 8.1 module in Apache server.

sudo a2enmod php8.2 
sudo systemctl restart apache2

For Command Line Interface:

sudo update-alternatives --set php /usr/bin/php8.2 
sudo update-alternatives --set phar /usr/bin/phar8.2 
sudo update-alternatives --set phar.phar /usr/bin/phar.phar8.2 
sudo update-alternatives --set phpize /usr/bin/phpize8.2 
sudo update-alternatives --set php-config /usr/bin/php-config8.2

If you want a different version (eg: PHP 8.1 or PHP 8.0) to be configured as default, just replace 8.2 with the required version.

How To Install PHP on Ubuntu 22.04

Posted on by Majid

Before We Begin

First, log in to Ubuntu 22.04 via the console. Then update the Apt cache and upgrade the current packages of the system using the following command:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

Installing PHP on Ubuntu 22.04

  • Install a few dependencies required by this tutorial with the below-mentioned command:
sudo apt install software-properties-common ca-certificates lsb-release apt-transport-https
  • Add the Ondrej PPA to your system, which contains all versions of PHP packages for Ubuntu systems.
LC_ALL=C.UTF-8 sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php
  • Now, update the Apt package manager cache.
sudo apt update
  • The SURY repository contains PHP 8.2, 8.1, 8.0, 7.4, 7.3, 7.2, 7.1, 7.0 & PHP 5.6. As the latest stable version of PHP is 8.2, but a large number of websites still required PHP 7. You can install any of the required PHP versions on your system.

Install PHP 8.2:

sudo apt install php8.2

Install PHP 8.1:

sudo apt install php8.1

Install PHP 7.4:

sudo apt install php7.4
  • Most PHP applications depend on various extensions to extend their features. That can also be installed using the following syntax:
sudo apt install php8.2-[extension]

Replace [extension] with the extension you want to install, if you want to add multiple extensions then include them in braces, I am going to install “php-mbstring, php-mysql, php-xml, and php-curl” by running the below-mentioned command:

sudo apt install php8.2-mysql php8.2-mbstring php8.2-xml php8.2-curl

Check Active PHP Version

php -v

About PHP Configuration Files

The PHP configuration files are stored under /etc/php directory with the version numbers. For example, all the configuration files related to PHP 8.2 are located below:

  1. Main PHP configuration file location:
    • PHP CLI: /etc/php/8.2/cli/php.ini
    • Apache: /etc/php/8.2/apache2/php.ini
    • PHP FPM: /etc/php/8.2/fpm/php.ini
  2. All the installed PHP modules are stored under /etc/php/8.2/mods-available directory.
  3. PHP Active modules configuration directory location:
    • PHP CLI: /etc/php/8.2/cli/conf.d/
    • Apache: /etc/php/8.2/apache2/conf.d/
    • PHP FPM: /etc/php/8.2/fpm/conf.d/

To check files for the other PHP versions, just change the PHP version number (8.2 in the above example) in the files and directory path.

Switch Default PHP Version for CLI

You can use an `update-alternatives` command to set the default PHP version. Use this tutorial to read more details about switching the PHP version for CLI and Apache.

sudo update-alternatives --config php

Output:

There are 4 choices for the alternative php (providing /usr/bin/php).

  Selection    Path             Priority   Status
------------------------------------------------------------
* 0            /usr/bin/php8.1   81        auto mode
  1            /usr/bin/php5.6   56        manual mode
  2            /usr/bin/php7.4   74        manual mode
  3            /usr/bin/php8.0   80        manual mode
  4            /usr/bin/php8.1   81        manual mode
  5            /usr/bin/php8.2   82        manual mode

Press  to keep the current choice[*], or type selection number: 2

Uninstalling PHP

If any PHP version is no more required, it can be removed from the system. That will free the disk space as well as system security.

To uninstall any PHP version just type:

sudo apt remove php5.6

Also, uninstall all the modules for that version with the following command:

sudo apt remove php5.6-*