help with exec

[kranthi117]

when i test

var_dump(is_callable("exec"));

i m getting bool(true)

but

exec("whoami");

is not giving ny output (in fact ny command with exec is not giving ny output)

 

can ny 1 tell me what it means???

 

[cooldude832]

where are u getting this exec function whoami???

[kranthi117]

http://in.php.net/manual/en/function.exec.php

[cooldude832]

well is your server running unix or windows?

[kranthi117]

srry not telling that earlier  Apache/2.2.8 (Win32) DAV/2 mod_ssl/2.2.8 OpenSSL/0.9.8g mod_autoindex_color

[cooldude832]

and whoami is a win32 shell command?  oh wait win32 uses cmd not shell therefore exec of UNIX commands fail

[kranthi117]

ohh just overlook that ny alternative to run commands from php script in win???

[cooldude832]

look around for answers of exec( ) on a win server cause I have never used a windows php server in my life

[trq]

exec works fine on windows however the whoami command does not exist (on windows).

[kranthi117]

well i m testing

<?php
exec("test.exe");
var_dump(is_callable("exec"));
?>

i m getting nothing more than

bool(true)

but typing test.exe in the command prompt is executing the file..

 

can sum 1 tell me where i m making a mistake

[trq]

Exec doesn't output anything unless you specify an output variable as a second argument if thats what your getting at. Take a look at the manual.

[cooldude832]

the way i've learned to use exec on windows is to write it to a file and then fopen that file

[kranthi117]

@thorpe

 

if this is what u r saying

<?php
exec("dir",&$out,$no);
var_dump($out);
var_dump($no);
?>

 

i tried it but it did not work....

ny ways i m not trying to get a text output.. i m trying to start an exe file tru php..

 

@cooldude832 dnt get u how can i write the output of exec to a file, without using a php variable

[rhodesa]

You don't need to write to a file to use it on Windows.

 

If you just want the output to go to the screen, use passthru()

If you want to store it in a variable, you will use exec() like so:

 

$cmd = 'hostname';
$output = array();
$return_var = null;
exec($cmd,$output, $return_var);
print "Command run: $cmd\n";
print "Return Value: $return_var\n";
print "Output:\n".implode("\n",$output);

[kranthi117]

the above is giving results.. but only for text outputs...

and as far as i hav read in php manual passthru does not support win,

 

 

i m not trying to get an text output i m trying to start an .exe program tru php

[rhodesa]

passthru() works fine on Windows (just tested with Windows/Apache/PHP5)

 

what do you mean by "only text outputs"? what is an example of something else?

[kranthi117]

<?php
$cmd = "\"\"C:\\windows\\system32\\notepad.exe\" \"C:\\test.txt\"\"";
exec($cmd);
?>

 

i expect this to open the win application "notepad.exe" and load "test.txt" into it...

[rhodesa]

Ah, yes. You do not get an interactive commend shell.

[kranthi117]

ny work around for this???

[rhodesa]

I've never used proc_open before, but check out this post:

http://us.php.net/manual/en/function.proc-open.php#70429

[kranthi117]

tried that but without use

[ansarka]

i dont think you can open applications using php command line execution

you can communicate to application using commands

 

not sure you can open notepad or any other application

 

plz reply if  i am wrong

[cooldude832]

i dont think you can open applications using php command line execution

you can communicate to application using commands

 

not sure you can open notepad or any other application

 

please reply if  i am wrong

 

You are wrong.

 

exec() is a function in php capable of executing an external program be it shell cmd or an ambiguous macro program made by a user.

 

It is very common for MMORPG people to build macro's that "harvest" game resources and then report back to a remote server their findings via a php/cron/exec combo.

[kranthi117]

well is there ny way to call an external program (for e.g notepad.exe) from a php script??

as told earlier i m working on windows