Check if php script was called by the server or remotely in php?

Question

I have a crontab php script that resides in one of the folders on abc.tld. The problem is that the script could also be fired by calling it directly (i.e. http://abc.tld/crontab.php) To eliminate such possibility, I assume, I could do something like

if( isset($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD']) || isset($_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR']) )
     die( 'Never gonna happen!' );

But what is the right way? (except .htaccess)

Crontab entry:

0 12 * * 1  /usr/local/bin/php /home/pavellebedev/public_html/abc.tld/wp-content/plugins/easy-timesheet/kernel/cron/ezts_timesheet_notifications.php

good god man, disable that file all together, or put it above public root and call with php that way. :) — ATechGuy, Sep 25 '17 at 22:16
Possible duplicate of [Run a php script only from Cron or check if request from cron?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/16702472/run-a-php-script-only-from-cron-or-check-if-request-from-cron) — rickdenhaan, Sep 25 '17 at 22:19

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 25 '17 at 22:22

3

if(php_sapi_name() == 'cli') {
    // Called from command-line, maybe cron
} elseif(php_sapi_name() == 'apache2handler') {
    // Called from the apache2 webserver upon web request
}

Documentation : http://php.net/manual/en/function.php-sapi-name.php

answered Sep 25 '17 at 22:22

Calimero

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Pavel · Answer 2 · 2017-09-27T01:24:23.087

1

As a conclusion of my research extended from Calimero's answer, here's the most reliable way to make sure that the script was called by crontab (php 5.3+):

if( stripos(php_sapi_name(), 'cgi') === false || stripos(php_sapi_name(), 'cli') === false ) die('Not cron');

edited Sep 27 '17 at 01:24

answered Sep 26 '17 at 09:59

Pavel

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Could you by chance post the crontab entry in your question ? Your answer only makes sense if you are running CGI php as CLI (it is possible, although slightly inconvenient), or if the cron job is a curl request to the webserver happening to run CGI php. I discarded those cases too soon, I'd be delighted to update my answer acordingly. – Calimero Sep 26 '17 at 20:14
just did, my sapi returns cgi_fcgi – Pavel Sep 26 '17 at 21:48
Actually experiment has shown that you right, @Calimero, Php.net must have got it wrong (?) I have edited my answer as calling the script by another non-cron script on server side results in "cgi" – Pavel Sep 27 '17 at 01:12

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 25 '17 at 22:16

0

Duplicate How to check if a php script is being called by another script on the server?

The answer :

The $_SERVER["REMOTE_ADDR"] variable that gives you the IP address of the client who made the request should be 127.0.0.1 when the script is called from the server.

answered Sep 25 '17 at 22:16

Nathanael Demacon

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wrong. `$_SERVER["REMOTE_ADDR"]` is not set when a php script is run through CLI. – Calimero Sep 25 '17 at 22:30
Oh yeah, I was only thinking about the possibility that the php file was intended only for web use, my bad – Nathanael Demacon Sep 25 '17 at 22:33
Don't copy/paste answers from other questions. If you find a question that answers this one, this should be marked as a duplicate instead (and if you don't have rep to mark it as a duplicate, just leave a comment about it instead). – M. Eriksson Sep 25 '17 at 22:34
Why did someone up vote this? It's wrong since it doesn't answer the question, nor should anyone copy/paste answers from other posts. – M. Eriksson Sep 25 '17 at 22:39

Check if php script was called by the server or remotely in php?

3 Answers3