Including CGI scripts

Anon

I have a CGI news script for my site... is there a way to include this file in using php? I used to use SSI, but i'm trying to convert to php3 and the "include" statement prints out the entire CGI file, not what the file is actually supposed to display... i also tried <? exec("cgi-bin/news.cgi"); ?> but it didn't display anything, no errors though.. anyone know what the statement is to run the CGI inside php?

-harold

brandonschnell

in SSI the includes command runs the cgi and returns the output to the browser, but in PHP the includes() function loads a file as text and looks for PHP/HTML code to run/output.

verify your path to the cgi program is correct, you may need to specify the complete path for the program to run.

the easy way here is to use the passthru command or the backtick operators. for example:

<?
$cgi_output = cgi-bin/news.cgi;
echo $cgi_output;
?>

http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.operators.execution.php

<? echo passthru('cgi-bin/news.cgi'); ?>

http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.passthru.php

Anon

I tried these two methods out and i keep getting either "Content-type: text/html" or nothing at all, instead of the actual news. The descriptions all look like what i need.. any suggestions?

brandonschnell

the cgi program should be whats sending the mime header so thats a good sign.

using the backtick operators or passthru works just like running the program from the command prompt. if you run the cgi program from the command prompt what happens? some cgi programs expect/require the GET/POST environ vars to be available when they're ran.

Anon

ok this is the site running the passthru:

http://www.coldbd.com/test.php3

and this is the actual cgi file:

http://www.coldbd.com/cgi-bin/news.cgi

and the site with a SSI

http://www.coldbd.com/

I'm pretty sure the CGI executes right from the cmd line and dosn't need any get/post (unless i'm really dumb, which is certainly a possibility).. sorry to be such a hassle ;[

brandonschnell

try using the php virtual() function.

for example:
virtual ("/cgi-bin/news.cgi");

http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.virtual.php

Anon

thanks a ton!!! the virtual function didn't work but down in the comments from the virtual function someone had listed a Win Server fix (i tried it, thought i had apache, guess this worked though!) thx a lot man, you've been a great help!

Harold