How can i see php errors in cpanel?

I can guarantee you, I am not the only person who has been driven to madness at least once in a frustrating search for a log file. It seems like it should be the easiest thing to find in the whole system.

A definitive guide on where the PHP error log is stored would be a complicated bit of work. The official PHP manual does not even try to address the whole topic, because there are dependencies on systems outside PHP, such as the operating system (Linux vs. Windows, which distribution of Linux), including settings within Windows and Linux that affect the name and location of the PHP error log.

Until someone takes the time to write a complete, cross-system guide, the best you are going to get is general directions where you can inquire. Every PHP developer has had to endure agony in this pursuit, with one exception. If you work in one place and the information is provided when you first need it, then you have the information need forever, that is, until you find yourself in a new working environment. There are such fortunate people.

If the information is not given to you on a silver platter, so to speak, you have some hunting to do. The hunt is not the longest you will face in your career, but it is not the simplest either.

As is evident from the many answers already posted, a smart place to begin is the output of phpinfo(). To view it, create a PHP file containing this:

<?php
    phpinfo();

Either browse to that file or run it from the command line. If you do both, you likely will find the error_log is in different places, depending on command line vs. web server use of PHP. That is because the PHP interpreter that runs on a web server is not the same PHP interpreter that runs from the command line, even when the command line is on the same machine as the web server. The answers already posted in here mostly are making an unstated assumption that PHP is running as part of a web server.

The default for error_log is no value

Whatever the value is, it comes from the php.ini files used to configure PHP. There can be many php.ini files. Finding your way among them is confusing at first, but you do not need to deal with this to find your PHP log.

If the output from phpinfo() shows a full path to a file, that is where the log is. You are lucky.

The trick is there usually is not a full path indicated in phpinfo(). When there is not a full path, the location depends on:

1. Whether error_log is no value. If it is, the log file location will depend on the operating system and the mode PHP is running. If PHP is running as an Apache module, on Linux the log often is in /var/log/apache2/error.log. Another likely spot is in a logs directory in your account home directory, ~/logs/error.log.

2. If there is a file name without a path, the location depends on whether the file name has the value syslog. If it syslog, then the PHP error log is injected into the syslog for the server, which varies by Linux distribution. A common location is /var/log/syslog, but it can be anywhere. Even the name of the syslog varies by distribution.

3. If the name without a path is not syslog, a frequent home for the file is is the document root of the website (a.k.a., website home directory, not to be confused with the home directory for your account).

This cheat sheet has been helpful in some situations, but I regret to have to admit it is not nearly universal. You have my condolences.

Sometimes when you are working with a PHP script on your website, you may need to debug a problem. By default your server will have PHP error display turned off for security reasons, but you can temporarily enable error display if you need it. Here's how to do it:

Please be aware that some PHP scripts suppress or re-route errors regardless of your settings below. Check with your PHP script documentation to see where error messages get logged if the steps below don't work. You may need to turn on error reporting or logging in the admin area/config file for the script you want to debug.

1. Log into your cPanel account.
2. Look for the MultiPHP INI Editor in the Software section of cPanel.
   
   
3. Click on the Editor Mode tab at the top of this screen.
   
   
4. Select the domain or subdomain you want to activate error reporting within. The domain or subdomain you pick should be the one that the PHP script is running in.
   
   

5. The editor window may have items listed in it, or it may be blank. Find and edit the following lines as shown (or add them if they don't exist)

   display_errors = On
   error_reporting = E_ALL

   The error_reporting line above will show all errors, notices and warnings for PHP scripts in that domain or subdomain. You can use one or more constants listed here separated by an ampersand (&) if you want to fine-tune the types of errors that get reported.

6. Click Save to apply the changes you've just made.

Now you can access your PHP script and debug it. The errors you are looking for may be displayed on screen, written to an error_log file in the script's main directory or where ever the script chooses to write such errors (perhaps a log accessible from the admin area of the script).

Once you have fixed the issues reported by your PHP script, make sure you disable error reporting by going into the editor in cPanel and  set display_errors = Off

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