How to use MAMP's version of PHP instead of the default on OSX

Question

I would like to use MAMP's version of PHP instead of the default installed on my mac. I tried using

ln -s /Applications/MAMP/bin/php5.3/bin/php php

but I get a "File exists" error. What's the best way to work around this so I can just type php instead of the full path?

Answer 1

I have created a symlink at the original php location.

1. Locate your osx php version with:

which php 

The result should be:

/opt/local/bin/php 

2. Backup (move) your original php binary:

sudo mv /opt/local/bin/php /opt/local/bin/php.bak 

3. Create the symlink:

sudo ln -s /Applications/MAMP/bin/php/php5.4.4/bin/php /opt/local/bin/php 

4. Run your new php version:

php -v 

PS:

In order for this to work on El-Capitan

• Reboot your Mac to RecoveryMode (hold Cmd+R on boot)
• Open Terminal and enter: csrutil disable
• Reboot
• either : sudo ln -s /Applications/MAMP/bin/php/php5.4.4/bin/php /opt/local/bin/php
  or sudo ln -s /Applications/MAMP/bin/php/php5.4.4/bin/php /usr/bin/php
• Reboot again to RecoveryMode and re-enable security: csrutil enable