Configuring Local PHP Interpreters

The term local PHP interpreter denotes a PHP engine installed on your computer opposite to remote PHP interpreters that can be installed on a remote host or in a virtual environment set up in a Vagrant instance, see Configuring Remote PHP Interpreters.

Configuring a local PHP interpreter in PhpStorm

Open the Settings dialog box by choosing File | Settings, then click PHP under Languages & Frameworks. The PHP page opens.
On the PHP page that opens, click the browseButton button next to the Interpreter drop-down list in the Development environment section.

• In the Interpreters dialog box that opens, click the Add toolbar button add   in the left-hand pane, then choose Local on the context menu. If you already have a local interpreter configured in PhpStorm, it is also shown on the menu and the menu item changes to Other Local.
• In the right-hand pane of the dialog box, specify the PHP interpreter's settings.
• In the Name text box, type the identifier to distinguish the interpreter from others, for example, php_installation_.
• Specify the PHP engine installation directory in the PHP Home field. Type the path manually or click the Browse button browseButton   and choose the location in the Choose PHP Home dialog box, that opens.
• PhpStorm displays the version of the PHP engine detected in the specified folder and the debugger associated with this PHP engine in the php.ini file.
• Optionally, customize the configuration settings of the installation in the Advanced area. In the Configuration options field, compose a string of configuration directives to be passed through the -d command line option and thus add new entries to the php.ini file. To do that, click the Browse button browseButton.png next to the Configuration options field, and then create a list of entries in the Configuration Directives dialog box, that opens.
• To add a new entry, click the Add button add.png. In the new line, that is added to the list, specify the name of the new entry and its value in the Name and Value text boxes respectively.
• You can add as many entries as you need, just keep in mind that they will be transformed into a command line with its length limited to 256 characters.
• To delete an entry, select it in the list and click the Remove button delete.png.
• To change the order of entries, use the Up arrowUp.png  and Down arrowDown.png buttons.