Calling C from PHP

Minimal example showing how to compile and call C from PHP.

In this example, src/lib.c provides a single function named message which just prints some text to the terminal.

Steps

• Compile C library into shared library

gcc -c src/lib.c -o bin/phplib.o
ar rcs bin/phplib.a bin/phplib.o
gcc -shared bin/phplib.o -o bin/phplib.so

• Create PHP definitions

<?php

$ffi = FFI::cdef(
    'void message();',
    'bin/phplib.so'
);

• Call C code from FFI object

$ffi->message();