I have a simple php script
<?php
for($i=0;$i<10;$i++){
sleep(1);
echo $i;
}
Which I run from the command line
php myfile.php &
I would expect I can do other things in the command line, even before the scripts ends.
I do get a prompt, but when I press the enter I get
[1]+ Stopped php myfile.php
This is expected if your terminal has the tostop option enabled. When that is set, any background process that tries to output to the terminal receives the SIGTTOU signal, and that signal's default handler stops the process. (This is done so that output from background processes doesn't mess up your terminal.)
You can disable this feature by running stty -tostop, in the same terminal.
$ stty tostop
$ php ./t.php &
[1] 6484
$
[1]+ Stopped php ./t.php
$ # no messing up of the terminal, process stopped
$ fg
php ./t.php
0^C
$
$ stty -tostop
$ php ./t.php &
[1] 6481
$ # 01an2d 3now 45 6it m7esses 8up 9my term!
There's probably a better solution, but for me, on Ubuntu, it works if you run it in the foreground and suspend it with Ctrl-Z, and then background it with bg:
$ php myfile.php
^Z
[4]+ Stopped php myfile.php
$ bg
[4]+ php myfile.php &
$ 2#3 it4 mess5es up 6my 7term8in9al too!
[4] Done php myfile.php
