Switch between PHP versions in Mac with Homebrew & sphp

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Many times I found me in the scenario where I need to use different versions for PHP at the same time for different projects. So here is a tiny guide of how to do this in the easy way.

First install different versions for php using Homebrew (If you haven’t installed Homebrew, just follow the at https://brew.sh/), to install this use:

brew install php@7.1
brew install php@7.2
brew install php@7.3
brew install php@7.4

Now you have to install sphp, you can do this with this script:

curl -L https://gist.githubusercontent.com/rhukster/f4c04f1bf59e0b74e335ee5d186a98e2/raw > /usr/local/bin/sphp
Once it is downloaded in your computer just make it executable:
chmod +x /usr/local/bin/sphp

Cool, now restart your terminal and try to switch between versions with

sphp 7.4
Switching to php@7.4
Switching your shell
Unlinking /usr/local/Cellar/php@5.6/5.6.36… 0 symlinks removed
Unlinking /usr/local/Cellar/php@7.0/7.0.30… 0 symlinks removed
Unlinking /usr/local/Cellar/php@7.1/7.1.32_1… 0 symlinks removed
Unlinking /usr/local/Cellar/php@7.2/7.2.30_1… 0 symlinks removed
Unlinking /usr/local/Cellar/php@7.3/7.3.18… 25 symlinks removed
Unlinking /usr/local/Cellar/php/7.4.6… 0 symlinks removed
Linking /usr/local/Cellar/php/7.4.6… 24 symlinks created
You will need sudo power from now on

Test your php version:

php --version

PHP 7.4.6 (cli) (built: May 14 2020 10:40:11) ( NTS )
Copyright (c) The PHP Group
Zend Engine v3.4.0, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies
    with Zend OPcache v7.4.6, Copyright (c), by Zend Technologies

I will be updating this article if I found some issues and some other troubleshooting tips.

Troubleshooting

If the php version has not changed check first where does your php executable came from with, to work it should show something like this:

which php
/usr/local/bin/php

Check your ~/.bash_profile to be sure there no other php version loading after sphp. If there is some PHP loading just comment it, and restart your Terminal.

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