14.PHP File Change Scanner

14.PHP File Change Scanner

The wp admintools scan commands let you run and manage the PHP File Change Scanner. The scanner detects new, modified, and suspicious PHP files on your site.

14.1.Run a scan

Starts a new PHP File Change Scanner scan and runs it to completion. On the command line there is no execution time limit, so the scan runs continuously until all files have been processed.

wp admintools scan run [--max-exec=<seconds>]
--max-exec

Maximum execution time per scan step in seconds. Default: 30. Increase this value for sites with many files to reduce the number of steps.

Examples

Run a scan with default settings:

wp admintools scan run

Run a scan with a longer step time:

wp admintools scan run --max-exec=60

Sample output

Starting PHP File Change Scanner...Step 2: 150 files scanned so far...Step 3: 487 files scanned so far...Step 4: 1023 files scanned so far...Success: Scan #1 completed. 1250 files scanned (2026-02-10 12:00:00 to 2026-02-10 12:01:30).  New files: 0 | Modified files: 3 | Suspicious files: 1Warning: Found 1 suspicious file(s). Review with: wp admintools scan alerts 1