A brief introduction to the Drush command line utility for Drupal. Learn how to use Drush to quickly build new Drupal sites, simplify the management of existing sites, and even integrate with other systems and IDEs.

1. Intro to Drush
July 13, 2012

2. David Watson

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
− Web Developer
Experimental Media and
Performing Arts Center (EMPAC)
− Adjunct Professor
Web Systems Development

Drupal Consultant
− ~3 years in the community
− Specialized Generalist

3. Development Problems

Speed of performing tasks
− Site Installation
− Module Management
− Site Administration
− Feature Management
− Creating Test Content

Ability to script tasks from the shell
− Shell scripts
− Integration with other systems/IDEs

4. Solution? Drush!

Drupal Shell

Command line utility intended for *nix-based
environments
− Limited Windows support via cygwin

Exposes common Drupal tasks via the
command line

Allows other modules to provide commands
− Devel
− Features

5. Drush Installation

Drush is not like most other projects!

Collection of local scripts, not a module you
install on a site

Up-to-date installation info can be found on
the drush project page
− drupal.org/project/drush

6. Site Installation (normal)

Open browser

Visit drupal.org

Download Drupal

Decompress

Run install.php from browser

Choose install profile

Configure site/database

7. Drupal Download (drush)

cd /path/to/destination/dir

drush dl
− Downloads the latest Drupal version when
called with no arguments
− Can also be used to download projects

8. Quick Note...

Most other commands that operate on a site
must be run from within that site's root
directory

Running the command within a subdirectory is
also acceptable, though supplied paths are
generally relative to the Drupal root, not the
working directory

9. Site Installation (drush)

drush si [install_profile]
− Installs Drupal from scratch, flushing the
database first
− Optionally accepts the machine name of an
install profile
− Can supply database information via --db-url
flag if necessary

10. Adding a Module (normal)

Open the browser

Visit module page on drupal.org

Download the correct module version

Decompress the module

Move it into the appropriate directory

11. Adding a Module (drush)

drush dl [module_name]
− Downloads a module with the given project
shortname (the last part of the URL when
you visit the project page)
− The latest and most stable will be retrieved
by default, use --select to be prompted to
choose
− Modules are downloaded to
sites/default/files, use
--destination=path/to/dest to specify (relative
to Drupal root)

12. What About Themes?

Themes and other projects are downloaded
the exact same way

Naturally, themes appear in
sites/default/themes

13. Module Management (normal)

Visit the module page

Scroll through a (usually very) long list

Select the module and confirm

Confirm dependencies

14. Module Management (drush)

drush en <module_name>
− Enables the module

drush dis <module_name>
− Disables the module

drush pm-uninstall <module_name>
− Uninstalls a disabled module completely

15. Module Management (drush)

drush up [module_names]
− Checks for module updates
− Automatically runs update.php
− Will even update Drupal core minor releases
if out of date!

drush pmi <module_name>
− Retrieve more information than you could
possibly need about a module

16. Administrative Tasks

drush sql-dump --result-file=path/to/dest.sql
− Generate a SQL dump of the entire site

drush uli <username>
− Provides a one-time login link for a user

drush upwd <username>
− Set the password for a user

drush u[u]blk <username>
− (un)blocks a given user

17. Features Integration

drush fl
− Lists all features and their status

drush fd <feature_name>
− Takes the diff between features exports in
code and database
− Requires diff module

18. Features Integration

drush fr <feature_name>
− Reverts a feature to code

drush fra
− Reverts all features at once

19. Features Integration

drush fu <feature_name>
− Updates a feature's code from the current
database information, re-exporting it in place

drush fe <feature_name>
[component_name, ...]
− Exports a series of components to a new or
existing feature
− Adding to an existing feature is “drush fa”
before drush 5.x

20. Devel Integration

drush fnv <function>
− Display source of a function

drush hook <hook_name>
− List all hook implementations for examination
− The hook name should be without the
“hook_” prefix

21. Devel Integration

drush genc <nodes> <comments>
− Generate a set number of nodes and
comments
− --types=types specifies which content types
to use

Similar command exist for users, taxonomy,
etc.

22. All UI? Never Again!

drush si -y empac_cms

drush dl feeds

drush en -y feeds

# UI – oops; broke something!

drush fra

# UI – hack hack hack

drush fe empac_cms_events feeds:events

bzr commit -m “Added Feeds Importer”

23. This is just the start!

drush help [command]
− Provides detailed help for a given command
− Command list and summary given with no
arguments

Other advanced features exist as well

Other modules may provide additional drush
integration

24. Questions?

25. Get in Touch!

d.o – davidwatson

e – dmw@davidwatson.name

t - @caughtexception

in – linkedin.com/in/davidmwatson