Cannot Initialize mbstring with PHP 7

Question

Whenever I try to access phpMyAdmin, I receive the following error:

"The mbstring extension is missing. Please check your PHP configuration."

I am running a LEMP stack on a CentOS 7 server. I have elected to use PHP 7 for this installation. I have not experienced this error on identical set-ups running earlier versions of PHP.

extension_loaded('mbstring') returns false even though mbstring.ini (/etc/php.d/) contains:

; Enable mbstring extension module
extension=mbstring.so

I am 100% sure that the mbstring module is installed on my server.

I'm completely stumped so if anyone has any ideas whatsoever, please let me know. Thanks.

@Andrea Yep, it follows the theme with no mention of _mbstring_ at all. — NoahMCM, Dec 26 '15 at 18:13
in that case, mbstring isn't installed and working. `extension=` shouldn't go in `mbstring.ini` btw, I think it should go in `php.ini` — Andrea, Dec 26 '15 at 19:27
Not with PHP 7, no. From php.ini: `Note: packaged extension modules are now loaded via the .ini files found in the directory /etc/php.d; these are loaded by default.` @Andrea — NoahMCM, Dec 26 '15 at 19:39
I had this problem on DigitalOcean with PHP8. Solved with the top-answer. I think this is a version-independent solution. — HoldOffHunger, Dec 30 '21 at 01:55

Chopchop · Answer 1 · 2016-08-30T08:59:22.113

86

For those who have debian :

 sudo apt-get install php7.0-mbstring

Otherwise in centos (tested in centos 6.6)

sudo yum install php70w-mbstring

and as @mpen said you can activate it

sudo phpenmod mbstring

edited Aug 30 '16 at 08:59

answered Mar 09 '16 at 13:23

Chopchop

2,899
18
36

2

PS: It can be enabled with `sudo phpenmod mbstring` – mpen Aug 08 '16 at 19:08
I needed to restart apache too `service httpd restart` – David Refoua Sep 26 '16 at 23:39
11

For CentOS 7 + PHP 7, the package name was `php70u-mbstring`. If you get `No package php70w-mbstring available`, you have to do `sudo yum list | grep "\-mbstring"` to find the corresponding package. – David Refoua Sep 26 '16 at 23:43
2

`yum install php70-mbstring` did it for me on an Amazon Linux Instance – borislemke Dec 27 '16 at 04:11
I just installed php7 and had the same issue. Much appreciated, Chopchop! – fmc Feb 04 '17 at 19:01
1

@DRSDavidSoft you should post your comment as an answer it solved my problem with php 5.6 – Geoff Dec 31 '18 at 15:53

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 26 '15 at 19:52

5

A solution was reached with the following method:

I put extension=mbstring.so inside php.ini even though that is no longer the method PHP uses by default to load modules.

From php.ini itself:

Note: packaged extension modules are now loaded via the .ini files found in the directory /etc/php.d; these are loaded by default.

It seemed to fix my problem. I would still be interested to hear if anyone else has a different take on this matter.

answered Dec 26 '15 at 19:52

NoahMCM

601
1
5
8

Perhaps the distribution of PHP 7 you used does not use the same configuration locations? – Andrea Dec 26 '15 at 22:43
I had already installed `php7.0-mbstring` but for some reason `phpenmod mbstring` did not enable it. I had to manually enable it using this method. Additionally, my environment required a `sudo service apache2 restart` for the change to take effect. – Zane Jun 20 '16 at 01:40

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 30 '18 at 05:46

2

For PHP7 on centos

try this yum install php70-mbstring

answered Apr 30 '18 at 05:46

Sankar Subburaj

4,992
12
48
79

This is the correct answer if you have php 7.0 Note, first do a php -v to find your version. – ssaltman May 10 '18 at 23:42

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 22 '16 at 10:28

I had this problem for a long time. I found the correct way (for me) to correct it... and it's fairly simple :)

Juste add "universe" on the xenial-updates

# cat /etc/apt/sources.list.d/*
deb [arch=amd64] http://fr.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ xenial-backports main
deb [arch=amd64] http://fr.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ xenial main universe
deb [arch=amd64] http://fr.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ xenial-proposed main
deb [arch=amd64] http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security main
deb [arch=amd64] http://fr.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ xenial-updates main **universe**

score -1 · Answer 5 · answered Mar 07 '17 at 08:30

-1

run sudo apt-get update, sudo apt-get upgrade before installing with sudo apt-get install php-mbstring.

I had the same problem today and found this way.

answered Mar 07 '17 at 08:30

Gimo

78
1
9

Cannot Initialize mbstring with PHP 7

5 Answers5

Linked

Related