Php.ini configuration directives

A number of configuration directives are supported in the php.ini file, which can be used to alter the behavior when PHP scripts run. There are a few directives specific to the runtime for PHP in CICS® TS Feature Pack for Dynamic Scripting V2.0.

CICS TS Feature Pack for Dynamic Scripting V2.0 specific configuration directives

Table 1 lists the directives that are specific to the runtime for PHP in CICS TS Feature Pack for Dynamic Scripting V2.0. It explains the purpose of each directive and the default value.

Table 1. CICS TS Feature Pack for Dynamic Scripting V2.0 specific php.ini configuration directives
Directive	Explanation	Default Value
code_cache	Enables the use of an in-memory cache of compiled PHP code, which eliminates the parsing of a compilation step for the second and subsequent run of a PHP file. It provides a performance improvement for repeatedly executed files. Extra heap space is required to hold this cache. The space that is required is dependent on the number and complexity of files that it holds.	On
code_cache_limit	Sets a limit on the number of files that are held in the code cache. When this limit is reached, entries are removed on a least recently used basis.	400
map_locals	Specifies that local variables are always available in a map data structure. This directive disables some performance optimization to ensure that the context parameter is always completed when a user error handler is invoked.	Off
optimization_level	Sets the level of optimization that is performed on the PHP code when it is compiled for execution. The default value provides the best performance while, at the same time, being safe for all applications. It can be set to int to force interpreted execution, which performs more slowly.	2
persistent_code_cache	Enables the use of a file system store of compiled PHP code, as an extension of the memory-based code cache. It is not limited in size and persists over application stops and recycle events.	Off
persistent_code_cache_dir	Specifies the directory in which the persistent code cache is written.	.

Standard php.net configuration directives

Table 2 lists the standard directives that can be specified in the php.ini file. It explains the purpose of each directive, whether it is supported by CICS TS Feature Pack for Dynamic Scripting V2.0, the default value, and highlights any difference in behavior over php.net. If a directive is listed as not supported, then you cannot change that directive in the php.ini file, and only the default behavior is provided. The default value is the value that is used if no value is specified in the php.ini file (for example if the directive is commented out). For a full explanation of each directive, see List of php.ini directives.

Note: The default php.ini file that is supplied with the CICS TS Feature Pack for Dynamic Scripting V2.0 does not set all the default values as given in Table 2. If you intend to use the default php.ini, you can check the values that are specified by viewing the file in CICS Explorer® SDK.

Table 2. Standard php.net php.ini configuration directives
Directive	Explanation	Supported	Default Value	Differences
allow_call_time_pass_reference	Whether to enable the ability to force arguments to be passed by reference at function call time. This method is deprecated and is likely to be unsupported in future versions of PHP. Instead, specify which arguments are passed by reference in the function declaration. A warning is issued each time that this feature is used, and the argument is passed by value instead of by reference.	No	Off	Call time pass by reference is not supported.
arg_separator.input	List of separators that are used by PHP to parse input URLs into variables. Note: Every character in this directive is considered a separator.	Yes	&
arg_separator.output	The separator that is used in PHP generated URLs to separate arguments.	Yes	&
asp_tags	Allow ASP-style `<% %>` tags.	Yes	Off
auto_globals_jit	When enabled, the `SERVER` and `ENV` variables are created when they are first used (Just In Time) instead of when the script starts. If these variables are not used within a script, having this directive on results in a performance gain. The PHP directives register_globals, register_long_arrays, and register_argc_argv must be disabled for this directive to be effective.	No	On
date.default_longitude	date.default_latitude = 31.7667	Yes
date.sunset_zenith	date.sunrise_zenith = 90.583333	Yes
date.timezone	Defines the default timezone that is used by the date functions.	Yes
disable_classes	This directive enables certain classes to be disabled for security reasons. It receives a comma-delimited list of class names. Note: This directive is not affected by whether Safe Mode is on or off.	No
disable_functions	This directive enables certain functions to be disabled for security reasons. It receives a comma-delimited list of function names. Note: This directive is not affected by whether Safe Mode is on or off.	No
display_errors	Print errors (as a part of the output). Possible values for display_errors are as follows: Off - Do not display any errors stderr - Display errors to STDERR (affects only CGI/CLI binaries) stdout (On) - Display errors to STDOUT Important: For production websites, turn this feature off, and use error logging instead. Enabling display_errors on a website might reveal security information to users, such as file paths, database schema, or other information.	Yes	On	Value of stderr is not supported.
display_startup_errors	Even when display_errors is on, errors that occur during the PHP startup sequence are not displayed. Use display_startup_errors only when debugging errors.	Yes	Off
docref_ext	If html_errors is set On, PHP produces clickable error messages that direct the user to a page that describes in detail the error, or function that is causing the error. You must specify the file extension being used including the dot.	Yes
docref_root	You can download the PHP manual from php.net in your language and set this directive to the URL of your local copy. Note: This is a feature to support development as it makes it easy to look up a function description. Do not use this feature on production systems.	Yes
enable_dl	Whether to enable the dl() function.	Yes	On
error_append_string	String to output after an error message.	Yes
error_log	Log errors to specified file.	Yes		A value of syslog is not supported.
error_prepend_string	String to output before an error message.	Yes
error_reporting	Sets the error reporting level. See error_reporting on php.net for an explanation of the various settings.	Yes	E_ALL & ~E_NOTICE & ~E_STRICT
expose_php	Decides whether PHP can expose the fact that it is installed on the server (for example, by adding its signature to the web server header). Expose PHP is not a security risk, but it makes it possible to determine whether PHP is in use on the server.	No	Off
extension	Which dynamically loadable extensions to load when PHP starts up.	Yes
extension_dir	Directory in which the native loadable extensions (modules) reside. The JVM variable `java.library.path` is also searched for native loadable extensions. Java™ loadable extensions are found by using the class path and not this directive.	Yes		Only used to find native loadable extensions (.so modules) and not extensions that are written in Java. Native loadable extensions can also be in a directory that is specified on the java.library.path.
file_uploads	Whether to allow HTTP file uploads.	No	On
gd.jpeg_ignore_warning	Tell the jpeg decode to ignore libjpeg warnings and try to create a gd image. The warning is then displayed as notices disabled by default.	Yes
highlight.bg	Colors for Syntax Highlighting mode. Anything that is acceptable in `<span style="color: ???????">` is allowed.	Yes	#FFFFFF
highlight.comment	Colors for Syntax Highlighting mode. Anything that is acceptable in `<span style="color: ???????">` is allowed.	Yes	#FF8800
highlight.default	Colors for Syntax Highlighting mode. Anything that is acceptable in `<span style="color: ???????">` is allowed.	Yes	#0000BB
highlight.html	Colors for Syntax Highlighting mode. Anything that is acceptable in <span style="color: ???????"> is allowed.	Yes	#000000
highlight.keyword	Colors for Syntax Highlighting mode. Anything that is acceptable in `<span style="color: ???????">` is allowed.	Yes	#007700
highlight.string	Colors for Syntax Highlighting mode. Anything that is acceptable in `<span style="color: ???????">` is allowed.	Yes	#DD0000
html_errors	Disable the inclusion of HTML tags in error messages. Note: This is a feature to support development as it makes it easy to look up a function description. Do not use this feature on production systems.	Yes	On
iconv.output_encoding	iconv.input_encoding = ISO-8859-1iconv.internal_encoding = ISO-8859-1	No		The iconv extension is not supported by CICS TS Feature Pack for Dynamic Scripting V2.0
ignore_repeated_errors	Do not log repeated messages. Repeated errors must occur in same file on same line unless ignore_repeated_source is set true.	Yes	Off
ignore_repeated_source	Ignore source of message when ignoring repeated messages. When this setting is On, you will not log errors with repeated messages from different files or source lines.	Yes	Off
ignore_user_abort	If enabled, the request is allowed to complete even if the user cancels the request. Consider enabling ignore_user_abort if a long request is executed, which might end up being interrupted by the user or a browser timing out.	No	On
implicit_flush	Implicit flush tells PHP to tell the output layer to flush itself automatically after every output block, which is equivalent to calling the PHP function flush() after every call to print() or echo() and every HTML block. Note: Turning on this option can have serious performance implications. Use it for debugging purposes only.	Yes	Off
include_path	Path to search for include files.	Yes
log_errors	Logs errors to a log file (a server-specific log, stderr, or error_log). Use log_errors instead of display_errors for production systems.	Yes	Off
log_errors_max_len	Set maximum length of log_errors. In error_log information about the source is added. The default is 1024. A value of 0 means that no maximum length is applied.	Yes	1024
magic_quotes_gpc	Sets the magic_quotes state for GPC (Get/Post/Cookie) operations. When magic_quotes are on, all single quotation mark, double quotation mark, back slash, and NULLs are escaped with a backslash automatically.	Yes	Off
max_execution_time	Maximum execution time of each script, in seconds.	Yes	30
max_input_nesting_level	Maximum nesting of arrays that are created from POST/GET data	Yes	64
mbstring.internal_encoding	Internal script encoding. Some encoding cannot work as internal encoding (for example, SJIS, BIG5, ISO-2022-*).	Yes
mysql.allow_persistent	Allow or prevent persistent links.	No		The mysql extension is not supported by CICS TS Feature Pack for Dynamic Scripting V2.0
mysql.connect_timeout	Maximum time (in seconds) for connect timeout. A value of -1 means no limit	No		The mysql extension is not supported by CICS TS Feature Pack for Dynamic Scripting V2.0
mysql.default_host	Default host for mysql_connect().	No		The mysql extension is not supported by CICS TS Feature Pack for Dynamic Scripting V2.0
mysql.default_password	Default password for mysql_connect().	No		The mysql extension is not supported by CICS TS Feature Pack for Dynamic Scripting V2.0
mysql.default_port	Default port number for mysql_connect().	No		The mysql extension is not supported by CICS TS Feature Pack for Dynamic Scripting V2.0
mysql.default_socket	Default socket name for local MySQL connects.	No		The mysql extension is not supported by CICS TS Feature Pack for Dynamic Scripting V2.0
mysql.default_user	Default user for mysql_connect().	No		The mysql extension is not supported by CICS TS Feature Pack for Dynamic Scripting V2.0
mysql.max_links	Maximum number of links, persistent plus non-persistent.	No		The mysql extension is not supported by CICS TS Feature Pack for Dynamic Scripting V2.0
mysql.max_persistent	Maximum number of persistent links.	No		The mysql extension is not supported by CICS TS Feature Pack for Dynamic Scripting V2.0
mysql.trace_mode	Trace mode.	No		The mysql extension is not supported by CICS TS Feature Pack for Dynamic Scripting V2.0
open_basedir	open_basedir, if set, limits all file operations to the defined directory and subdirectories. Note: This directive is not affected by whether Safe Mode is turned On or Off.	Yes
output_buffering	Output buffering permits the sending of header lines (including cookies) even after you send body content, although this can slow the PHP output layer. You can enable output buffering during runtime by calling the output buffering functions. You can also enable output buffering for all files by setting this directive to On. If you want to limit the size of the buffer to a certain size, you can use a maximum number of bytes instead of On, as a value for this directive. For example, `output_buffering=4096`.	Yes	Off
output_handler	You can redirect all of the output of your scripts to a function. Setting any output handler automatically turns on output buffering. Note: If you write portable scripts, do not depend on the output_handler directive. Instead, explicitly set the output handler by using ob_start().	Yes	Off
pcre.backtrack_limit	PCRE library backtracking limit.	Yes
pcre.recursion_limit	PCRE library recursion limit. Note: If you set this value to a high number, you might consume all of the available process stack and cause PHP to fail.	Yes
post_max_size	Maximum size of POST data that PHP accepts.	Yes	8M
precision	The number of significant digits that are displayed in floating point numbers.	Yes	14
register_argc_argv	Tells PHP whether to declare the `argv` and `argc` variables (that would contain the GET information). Note: For performance reasons, if you do not use these variables, turn off register_argc_argv.	No	Off
register_globals	Whether to register the EGPCS variables as global variables. Turn off register_globals if you do not want the global scope of your scripts to be cluttered with user data. This makes most sense when coupled with track_vars, in which case you can access all of the GPC variables through the `$HTTP_*_VARS[]` variables. Important: Try to write scripts so that they do not require register_globals to be on. Using form variables as globals can lead to possible security problems if the code is not properly designed.	No	Off
register_long_arrays	Tells PHP whether to register the deprecated long `$HTTP__VARS` type predefined variables. Note: If you are not using long `$HTTP__VARS` type predefined variables, for performance reasons turn them off.	No	Off
safe_mode	Safe Mode	No	Off
safe_mode_allowed_env_vars	Setting certain environment variables might be a potential security breach. This directive contains a comma-delimited list of prefixes. In Safe Mode, the user can alter only environment variables whose names begin with the prefixes supplied here. By default, users are only able to set environment variables that begin with PHP_ (for example, PHP_FOO=BAR). Important: If this directive is empty, PHP allows the user to modify any environment variable.	No		putenv() is not supported by CICS TS Feature Pack for Dynamic Scripting V2.0, so no environment variables can be changed.
safe_mode_exec_dir	When Safe Mode is on, only executables that are in the safe_mode_exec_dir are allowed to be executed by the exec family of functions.	No
safe_mode_gid	By default, Safe Mode does a UID compare check when opening files. If you want to relax the check to a GID compare, then turn on safe_mode_gid.	No	Off
safe_mode_include_dir	When Safe Mode is on, UID/GID checks are bypassed and files are included from this directory and its subdirectories. The directory must also be in the include_path or the full path must be used.	No
safe_mode_protected_env_vars	This directive contains a comma-delimited list of environment variables that the user is unable to change by using putenv(). These variables are protected even if safe_mode_allowed_env_vars is set to allow them to be changed.	No		putenv() is not supported by CICS TS Feature Pack for Dynamic Scripting V2.0, so no environment variables can be changed.
serialize_precision	The number of significant digits that are stored while serializing floating point numbers. The default value ensures that when floats are decoded with unserialize, the data remains the same.	Yes	Off
session.auto_start	Initialize session on request startup.	Yes
session.cache_expire	Time in minutes after which a document expires.	Yes
session.cache_limiter	Set to {nocache,private,public,} to determine HTTP caching aspects or leave this empty to avoid sending anti-caching headers.	Yes
session.cookie_domain	The domain for which the cookie is valid.	Yes
session.cookie_httponly	Whether to add the httpOnly flag to the cookie, which makes it inaccessible to browser scripting languages such as JavaScript.	Yes
session.cookie_lifetime	Lifetime in seconds of cookie or, if 0, until browser is restarted.	Yes
session.cookie_path	The path for which the cookie is valid.	Yes
session.cookie_secure	Specifies whether cookies are sent only over secure connections.	Yes
session.gc_divisor	Define the probability that the garbage collection process is started on every session initialization. The probability is calculated by using gc_probability/gc_divisor. For example, 1/100 means that there is a 1% chance the GC process starts on each request.	Yes
session.gc_maxlifetime	After this number of seconds, stored data will be seen as garbage and cleaned up by the garbage collection process.	Yes
session.gc_probability	Define the probability that the garbage collection process is started on every session initialization. The probability is calculated by using gc_probability/gc_divisor. For example, 1/100 means that there is a 1% chance that the GC process starts on each request.	Yes
session.name	Name of the session (used as cookie name).	Yes
session.referer_check	Check HTTP_REFERER to invalidate externally stored URLs containing ids. HTTP_REFERER must contain this substring for the session to be considered as valid.	Yes
session.save_handler	Defines the name of the handler that is used for storing and retrieving data that is associated with a session.	Yes	files
session.save_path	Argument that is passed to save_handler. For files, save_handler is the path where data files are stored. PHP does not create this directory structure automatically, you can use the script in the ext/session directory for that purpose. Note: Refer to the information on garbage collection if you choose to use subdirectories for session storage. The file storage module creates files by using mode 600 by default. You can change that by using `session.save_path = "N;MODE;/path`, where MODE is the octal representation of the mode. This does not overwrite the process umask.	Yes
session.serialize_handler	Defines the name of the handler which is used to serialize and deserialize data. The default is php.	Yes
session.use_cookies	Whether to use cookies.	Yes
session.use_only_cookies	This option enables administrators to make their users invulnerable to attacks that involve passing session ids in URLs. Defaults to 0.	Yes
short_open_tag	Allow the `<? ?>` tag. Otherwise, only `<?php ?>` and `<script>` tags are recognized. Note: Avoid short tags when you are developing applications or libraries that are meant for redistribution, or deployment on PHP servers that are not under your control. Short tags might not be supported on the target server.	Yes	Off
track_errors	Store the last error/warning message in `$php_errormsg` (boolean). Note: track_errors can significantly degrade performance. Do not use it on production systems.	Yes	Off
unicode.script_encoding	Script encoding defines how the PHP file is encoded. This must be set correctly in order for string literals and PHP names, such as function, variable, and class names, to be correctly parsed by the runtime.	Yes	UTF-8
unicode.runtime_encoding	Runtime encoding is used when a PHP string is converted into a Java string. Internally, the PHP runtime preserves the ability to store binary data in a PHP string, which is essential for full support of the PHP 5 language. The runtime encoding is used when a PHP string is explicitly converted to a Java string, such as when it is stored in the global context as described in PHP global context reference.	Yes	UTF-8
unserialize_callback_func	The unserialize callback function is called (with the undefined class name as parameter), if the unserializer finds an undefined class that it expects to be instantiated. A warning is issued if the specified function is not defined, or if the function does not include or implement the missing class. Set this entry only if you want to implement such a callback-function.	Yes
upload_max_filesize	Maximum allowed size for uploaded files.	Yes	2M
upload_tmp_dir	Temporary directory for HTTP uploaded files (uses system default if not specified).	No
user_dir	The directory under which PHP opens the script by using /~username. Used only if nonempty.	No
y2k_compliance	Enforce year 2000 compliance (causes problems with non-compliant browsers).	No	On
zend.ze1_compatibility_mode	Enable compatibility mode with Zend Engine 1 (PHP 4.x).	No	Off