get current directory of symlink'd php script and not actual php script

For Web Server requests

dirname($_SERVER['SCRIPT_FILENAME']) will give you what you need.

Failing that $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'] or even REQUEST_URI may have what you need, depending on your server configuration.

For CLI (command Line)

this won't work in cli (command line) scripts as $_SERVER is added by the web server.

Fortunately it's a lot easier with cli scripts (as there is no web server to mess about with things).

All you need is to read the command line that started the script: http://php.net/manual/en/reserved.variables.argv.php. The first argument $argv[0] is always the name that was used to run the script.

If you want to get the current path with symlink you can ask your host OS:

$path = exec('pwd');