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What is the PHP mbstring extension, and what is the best way to install it on Ubuntu 14.04?

You'reAGitForNotUsingGit
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Rohit Bind
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8 Answers8

244

EDIT: Dylan Pierce has confirmed that you can already install some PHP 7.2 extensions in the same way you would for PHP 5. For mbstring in particular, you can execute:

sudo apt-get install php7.2-mbstring

To complement sparkmood's answer, this now works for PHP 7.2 if you already imported ondrej's PPA for it.

sudo apt-get install libapache2-mod-php7.2

Don't forget, either PHP 7 is available through ubuntu's official repositories or you will need an external PPA.

JMOhare
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goncalotomas
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sudo apt-get install php-mbstring

I have installed mbstring in php7.0-fpm (7.0.15-0ubuntu0.16.04.4)

Nanhe Kumar
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mbstring is built in libapache2-mod-php5 package, so you can use this command for installing : 

sudo apt-get install libapache2-mod-php5

As described in package details :

 dba dom ereg exif fileinfo filter ftp gettext hash iconv json libxml
 mbstring mhash openssl pcre Phar posix Reflection session shmop SimpleXML
 soap sockets SPL standard sysvmsg sysvsem sysvshm tokenizer wddx xml
 xmlreader xmlwriter zip zlib.
teal33t
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If you're using php 5.6

Install php 5.6 mbstring package:

sudo apt-get install php5.6-mbstring

Then add the following line to the bottom of your php.ini file:

extension=php5.6-mbstring.so

Restart apache:

sudo service apache2 restart

To find your php.ini file, create a file and insert the following line:

<?php phpinfo(); ?>

Then open with a browser to see where your php.ini file is located.

ChickenFeet
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8

In my case it was already installed, but I just needed to do phpenmod mbstring, followed by apachectl graceful.

ave
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For Ubuntu 14.04 extension mbstring should be built in.

For Ubuntu 16.04:

sudo apt-get install php7.0-mbstring

See also Introduction to Multibyte String

simhumileco
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1

It requires adding another source for apt for install in 18.04..

Download Page for php7.2-mbstring_7.2.7-0ubuntu0.18.04.2_amd64.deb on AMD64 machines

If you are running Ubuntu, it is strongly suggested to use a package manager like aptitude or synaptic to download and install packages, instead of doing so manually via this website.

You should be able to use any of the listed mirrors by adding a line to your /etc/apt/sources.list like this:

deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security main universe

Neal
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1

Since the mcrypt itself (the package that php-mcrypt uses to do its crypt stuff) is no longer supported after PHP7.2, As of today, to install it specifically for php7.2, you'll need to make sure when installing to prefix all php7.2 extensions with php7.2-.

While initially the commands suggested by others to just install it work, when using it with an framework version that requires mcrypt (such as Laravel4.2), it will require you to install mcrypt using pecl. Follow the fix here

jpalala
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