I was looking for this type of functionality:

'php batch/mybatch.php app=batch env=dev'

The following allows me to use the same batch scripts for different environments and applications. It also keeps batch scripts lean by only requiring one line.

batch/run_me.php:

require_once('lib/batch.php');
 
//
// begin batch scripting here
//

batch/lib/batch.php:

set_time_limit(0);
 
$app = get_app($argv[1]);
$env = get_env($argv[2]);
$debug = get_debug($argv[3]);
 
//
// initialize symfony
//
 
define('SF_ROOT_DIR',         realpath(dirname(__FILE__).'/../..'));
define('SF_APP',              $app);
define('SF_ENVIRONMENT',      $env);
define('SF_DEBUG',            $debug);
 
require_once(SF_ROOT_DIR.DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR.'apps'.DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR.SF_APP.DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR.'config'.DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR.'config.php');
 
sfContext::getInstance();
 
//
// initialize doctrine (just an example)
//
 
$connection = sfDoctrine::connection();
 
//
// parse command line args
//
 
function get_app($argv)
{
  preg_match('@app=(\w+)@', $argv, $match);
 
  return isset($match[1]) ? $match[1] : 'batch';
}
 
function get_env($argv)
{
  preg_match('@env=(\w+)@', $argv, $match);
 
  return isset($match[1]) ? $match[1] : 'dev';
}
 
function get_debug($argv)
{
  preg_match('@(true|false)@', $argv, $match);
 
  return isset($match[1]) ? $match[1] : true;
 
}