How to determine if a PHP file is loaded via cron/command line

Question

I need to determine whether the PHP file is being loaded via cron or command line within the code. How can I do this?

Answer 1

If you have control over the cron or command, have you considered passing a command-line argument, and reading it with $_SERVER['argv'][0]?

* * * * *   /usr/bin/php /path/to/script --cron

In the script:

<?php
if(isset($_SERVER['argv'][0]) and $_SERVER['argv'][0] == '--cron')
   $I_AM_CRON = true;
else
   $I_AM_CRON = false;