Can PHP call a external .exe?

[Disowned]

I want to know because I'm trying to build a web application that will take a video file from a user, convert that file to a another codec, and present the user with that converted file.

 

I have a free .exe that does just that but I was wondering it was possible to get PHP to call that file?

[DarkSuperHero]

is this on Windows Hosting or Linux Hosting?

[RussellReal]

whatever the case maybe.. use exec

[Disowned]

I think it's windows.

[DarkSuperHero]

Would there be any difference in the way the exec(); function would be used on a windows machine? would it be a dos command ?? I've never used exec() and I was just curious...

[nadeemshafi9]

ofcourse it can it can do anything , you can run loads of programs at the same time and communicate to different machines at the same time too

[Disowned]

I noticed exec() doesn't allow you specify the path the .exe is in (like /root/app/exe.exe .) I saw another function called pcntl_exec() that does so but I have no real idea on how to use it. It says you have to have it located in !#/usr/bin/cgi, what exactly does that mean?

[nadeemshafi9]

$result = array();

$lastlineofresult = exec("ls", $result); // dir for windows

 

print_r($result);

 

//OR

 

foreach($result as $alineofresult_key => $alineofresult_value){

      echo $alineofresult_value;

}