Installing PrestaShop using the command line

Since version 1.5.4, PrestaShop has had a command-line installer.

What it is

This special installer makes it possible to install PrestaShop without the need to use a web browser: simply put the content of the zip archive on your web server, and you can install PrestaShop through your command-line interface (CLI). Any CLI software can be used as long as you can use it to interact with the server's commands: Bash, Windows PowerShell, OS X Terminal, PuTTY, etc.

The point of having a CLI installer in addition to the regular in-browser installer is to give this option to cater for some advanced users, who often prefer command-line interfaces as they tend to provide a more concise and powerful means to control a program or operating system.

How to use it

The CLI installer is easy to use: from your terminal, go to the /install (or /install-dev) folder, and start the script with this command:

$ php index_cli.php

This will display the various available options.

All the options from the regular in-browser installer are available, with their default value listed. Almost all default values value can be left as is, because you can edit them all from the PrestaShop back-office once the installation is done. Note that the e-mail and password are the ones used to create the administrator's back-office account...

To start the installation, you only need to provide one argument. In reality, you need to provide more:

• domain. The location where you want your store to appear.

• db_server. The database server address.

• db_name. The name of the database you want to use.

• db_user. The username for the database you want to use.

• db_password. The password for the database username above.

For instance:

$ php index_cli.php --domain=example.com --db_server=sql.example.com --db_name=prestashop --db_user=root --db_password=123456789

If you also set the --email value to your own address, a recap e-mail will be sent to you once the installation is done.