Question

PHP CLI has suddently stopped working on the server. When running any php file even php -v to get php version I get following error.

Thanks

# php -v
Unknown option: v
php [-f from_encoding] [-t to_encoding] [-s string] [files...]
php -l
php -r encoding_alias
  -l,--list
     lists all available encodings
  -r,--resolve encoding_alias
    resolve encoding to its (Encode) canonical name
  -f,--from from_encoding
     when omitted, the current locale will be used
  -t,--to to_encoding
     when omitted, the current locale will be used
  -s,--string string
     "string" will be the input instead of STDIN or files
The following are mainly of interest to Encode hackers:
  -D,--debug          show debug information
  -C N | -c | -p      check the validity of the input
  -S,--scheme scheme  use the scheme for conversion

Answer 1

Type which php on your shell to find which php executable your shell picks from your search PATH.

Use ls -l $(which php) to see if it’s a symlink to some other executable.

What you see when running php -v is actually output of the piconv command.

Most possibly, there is a symlink named php pointing to piconv somewhere in your search PATH.

Type echo $PATH to see the order of directories in which your shell searches for an executable php.

EDIT:
Changed whereis to which in the command above.