One of the things I like about perl and vbscripts, is the fact that I can name a file e.g. 'test.pl' and just have to type 'test, without the .pl extension' on the windows command line and the command processor knows that it is a perl file and executes it using the perl command interpreter.
I did the same with the file extension .php3 (I will use php3 exclusivelly for command line php scripts, I'm doing this because my text editor VIM 6.3 already has the correct syntax highlighting for .php3 files ).
I modified the PATHEXT environment variable in Windows XP, from the " 'system' control panel applet->'Advanced' tab->'Environment Variables' button-> 'System variables' text area".
Then from control panel "Folder Options" applet-> 'File Types' tab, I added a new file extention (php3), using the button 'New' and typing php3 in the window that pops up.
Then in the 'Details for php3 extention' area I used the 'Change' button to look for the Php.exe executable so that the php3 file extentions are associated with the php executable.
You have to modify also the 'PATH' environment variable, pointing to the folder where the php executable is installed
Hope this is useful to somebody
