I create a script to use complex arguments while runing script from command line.

It also allow to switch SF_ENVIRONMENT, SF_APP and SF_DEBUG directly from command line.

Just create configBatch.php in your project's config directory and paste this :

<?php
define('SF_ROOT_DIR',    realpath(dirname(__file__).'/..'));
 
$argv = array();
for ($i = 1; $i < $_SERVER["argc"]; $i++) {
    if ($_SERVER["argv"][$i]{0} === '-') {
        // argument
        $value =  (
            isset($_SERVER["argv"][$i+1]) 
            && 
            $_SERVER["argv"][$i+1]{0} !== '-'
            ?
            $_SERVER["argv"][$i+1]
            :
            true
        );
 
        if ($_SERVER["argv"][$i]{1} === '-') {
            // long argument
            $argv[substr($_SERVER["argv"][$i], 2)] = $value;
        }
        else {
            foreach (str_split($_SERVER["argv"][$i]) as $arg) {
                if (ereg('[a-zA-Z0-9]', $arg)) {
                    $last_arg   = $arg;
                    $argv[$arg] = true;
                }
            }
            $argv[$last_arg] = $value;
        }
    }
}
 
define('SF_APP',         (isset($argv['app'])?$argv['app']:'www'));
define('SF_ENVIRONMENT', (isset($argv['env'])?$argv['env']:'prod'));
define('SF_DEBUG',       (isset($argv['debug'])?1:0));
 
require_once(SF_ROOT_DIR.DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR.'apps'.DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR.SF_APP.DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR.'config'.DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR.'config.php');
 

Then, start your batch file with :

<?php
 
require_once(realpath(dirname(__file__).'/..').DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR.'config'.DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR.'configBatch.php');
 
// Your script start here
 

Now, you can pass arguments to you script :

php -f /path/to/project/batch/my_batch.php -rf some_value --help --foo bar
 

Here is the generated $argv :

$argv = array (
  'r' => true,
  'f' => 'some_value',
  'help' => true,
  'foo' => 'bar',
);
 

You can also change the SF_ENVIRONMENT with the --env argument, the SF_APP with the --app argument and the debug flag with --debug argumnent

Enjoy

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;
 
}

It can be tricky sending email from a batch script (e.g. for cron use), here's how to do it. Start with your usual batch setup:

define('SF_ROOT_DIR',    realpath(dirname(__FILE__).'/..'));
define('SF_APP',         'app_name');
define('SF_ENVIRONMENT', 'environment');
define('SF_DEBUG',       true);
 
require_once(SF_ROOT_DIR.DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR.'apps'.DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR.SF_APP.DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR.'config'.DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR.'config.php');
sfContext::getInstance();

You can set attributes directly from the batch script if you wish:

sfContext::getInstance()->getRequest()->setAttribute('key', $value);

Then forward on to another module/action to handle processing and forwarding to mail as usual:

sfContext::getInstance()->getController()->forward('action', 'module');