Codeigniter command line error - PHP fatal error: class 'CI_Controller' not found

Question

After following the instructions in the user guide, I am unable to run the test script via the command line.

My controller is located at /var/www/mysite/application/controllers/

class Tools extends CI_Controller {

    public function message($to = 'World')
    {
        echo "Hello {$to}!".PHP_EOL;
    }
}

In the browser I can access

http://mysite/tools/message/ben

This function correctly outputs "Hello ben"

From the terminal, I should be able to run:

$ php index.php tool message "Ben"

My terminal should print out: "Hello Ben"

However, I get the following error:

PHP Fatal Error: Class 'CI_Controller' not found in /var/www/mysite/system/core/CodeIgniter.php line 233

My server is standard ubuntu LAMP. Codeigniter also comes standard and I have no problem running non-CI scripts via the command line.

My PHP is only installed in /usr/bin/php <-- This article hints at problems with running CI directly from usr/bin/php, however I am not using a shared PHP service and don't understand how this would Have an impact on how PHP executes CI scripts.

Thank you very much for your help in advance.

Answer 1

To resolve the error "Class 'CI_Controller' not found" try going to Application -> Config -> database.php and check the database details like hostname, username, password, and database.

Answer 2

solved! (Part of the) problem is CodeIgniters error logging.

In application/config/config.php, I modified the following configuration properties:

$config['log_threshold'] = 0;

This will disable logging and allow $ php index.php to execute.

If anyone can explain why CI only shows this error on CLI PHP - it might help others who run into this issue and need to resolve it via error logging.