How do I know which PHP version I'm using and how to update it?

January 22, 2015 17.1k views
lollo90
By:
lollo90

Hello, I'm very very new to web development and computing world and I've got a very basic question. I need to create a web app which supports login with Facebook. In order to do that, I need to use php. Although, Facebook api need php5.4+
How do I know which version of php is supported from my server?
Besides, If it's not 5.4+ how do I update it?

Thanks a lot for your support.

Greets,

Giacomo

1 comment
  • sianios January 22, 2015

    Almost all recent Linux distros come with PHP 5.4+. You can first check which version of PHP the distro uses before you create the droplet from here: http://distrowatch.com/
    Also you can check after you create the droplet and install PHP with the command php -v.

Log In to Comment
1 Answer
asb MOD June 8, 2016

Here's a quick cheat sheet that shows the base versions of PHP offered in some major distros:

Distro PHP Version
Ubuntu 12.04 5.3.10
Ubuntu 14.04 5.5.9
Ubuntu 16.04 7.0
CentOS 6 5.3.3
CentOS 7 5.4.16
Debian 7 5.4.45
Debian 8 5.6.20

If you need a more recent version, there are a number of third party repositories that offer them. For instance, these articles will walk you through upgrading to PHP 7 on Ubuntu 14.04 and CentOS 7:

How To Upgrade to PHP 7 on Ubuntu 14.04
by Brennen Bearnes
PHP 7.0 was released on December 3, 2015. It promises substantial speed improvements over previous versions of the language, along with new features like scalar type hinting. This guide explains how to quickly upgrade a PHP 5.x installation on an Ubuntu 14.04 system with Apache or Nginx, using community-provided packages.
Reply
Have another answer? Share your knowledge.