How to Find php.ini File Location in Ubuntu | Centos Linux

There are several ways to find the php.ini file location in Ubuntu and Centos Linux servers. It is also interesting to note that there are usually several php.ini files on the server. Here will show you how to find the file and determine which one is the active configuration file.

Using Locate to Find php.ini File Location

Use the following command to get a list of all of the php.ini files.

$ locate php.ini

This will give an output similar to this:

/etc/php/7.2/apache2/php.ini
/etc/php/7.2/cli/php.ini
/etc/php/7.2/fpm/php.ini
/etc/php/7.3/cli/php.ini
/etc/php/7.4/apache2/php.ini
/etc/php/7.4/apache2/php.ini.save
/etc/php/7.4/apache2/php.ini.ucf-dist
/etc/php/7.4/cli/php.ini
/etc/php/7.4/cli/php.ini.ucf-dist
/etc/php/7.4/fpm/php.ini
/etc/php/7.4/fpm/php.ini.ucf-dist
/etc/php/8.0/cli/php.ini
/usr/lib/php/5.6/php.ini-development
/usr/lib/php/5.6/php.ini-production
/usr/lib/php/5.6/php.ini-production.cli
/usr/lib/php/7.0/php.ini-development
/usr/lib/php/7.0/php.ini-production
/usr/lib/php/7.0/php.ini-production.cli
/usr/lib/php/7.1/php.ini-development
/usr/lib/php/7.1/php.ini-production
/usr/lib/php/7.1/php.ini-production.cli
/usr/lib/php/7.2/php.ini-development
/usr/lib/php/7.2/php.ini-production
/usr/lib/php/7.2/php.ini-production.cli
/usr/lib/php/7.3/php.ini-development
/usr/lib/php/7.3/php.ini-production
/usr/lib/php/7.3/php.ini-production.cli
/usr/lib/php/7.4/php.ini-development
/usr/lib/php/7.4/php.ini-production
/usr/lib/php/7.4/php.ini-production.cli
/usr/lib/php/8.0/php.ini-development
/usr/lib/php/8.0/php.ini-production
/usr/lib/php/8.0/php.ini-production.cli

The above output may not be very helpful in drilling down to the active php.ini file location.

You can use the PHP CLI to get the configuration file that is being used in your setup with the following command:

$ php -i | grep 'php.ini'

From the output look for the line similar to this:

Loaded Configuration File => /etc/php/7.4/cli/php.ini

You can also use the following to retrieve the same output:

$ php -r "echo php_ini_loaded_file().PHP_EOL;"

With the expected result being:

/etc/php/7.4/cli/php.ini

You can use PHPs phpinfo function as follows:

$ php -r "phpinfo();" | grep php.ini

With the following as the result.

Configuration File (php.ini) Path => /etc/php/7.4/cli
Loaded Configuration File => /etc/php/7.4/cli/php.ini

In case you need to get the php.ini file location for the settings used by the webserver you will need to use the following function from within a PHP file created in the web server document root and accessed from a web browser.

echo php_ini_loaded_file().PHP_EOL;

There you have it you should now be able to find the php.ini file location in Ubuntu and Centos Linux servers including determining the one that is active.

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