how to process an array from passthru information?

[ajna]

OK...I have the following problem. I am trying to convert a routine from PERL to PHP and keep running into array problems.

Here is some the original:

$command = "./zip/execute.cgi";
@all = $command;

$all[$#all + 1] = $ownzip;
$join = join ("" , @all);
shift(@all);

Here's the funny part, I have managed to convert this to:

passthru("/pathto//execute.cgi", $command);
$all = array("$command");

It seems that PERL and PHP handle arrays in radically different ways..or syntax.

Is passthru the right command to use? (It vomits output all over my screen......not what I want in the final results.) One I get the results from my cgi, how to I take the information and put it in an array and reference it? @arrayname doesn't seem to be valid in PHP and the manual entries I have read are damn vauge regarding arrays.

Any help would be GREATLY appeciated. All the different variations of coding angles and attempts have failed miserably on my end, especially when I get to the JOIN statement.

Thanks,

Kev

[matto]

hi, I tried this:

exec("ls", $output);

-> $output will become an array that contains the command (here: ls) output, 1 line per element.

I hope this is what you're looking for.

[jmcneese]

to quote from the manual:

passthru -- Execute an external program and display raw output

this indicates that output is displayed directly back to the browser, which usually is not what you want.

you can use passthru this way, however, if you put it in an output buffer first (see this), but you can also use exec()

[ajna]

OK, I'm going to give the exec a try...but is the resulting array - let's call it $output going to be what I use to eventually run my join on?

So I would do the following? (replacing @arrayname with $arrayname, ie: shift($output); instead of shift(@); )

exec("ls", $output);

$output[$#output + 1] = $ownzip;
$join = join ("" , $output);
shift($output);

[ajna]

OK ok.....

I seem to be having array problems here.

exec("/usr/home/scentral/cgi-bin/swing/zip/zipmath.cgi RAD $ownzip $zipradius", $all);

echo $all;

returns the output of: Array

Here is my code...lines numbered... with passthru to show output.
variables for test are: $ownzip = 44121, $zipradius = 3

1: passthru("/pathto/zipmath.cgi RAD $ownzip $zipradius", $all);
2:
3: $all[$#all + 1] = $ownzip;
4: $join = join ("" , @all);
5: shift(@all);

OUTPUT:

The following zipcodes are within 3.00 miles of zipcode 44121 (Cleveland): 44112 (Cleveland-OH) distance 2.214869 miles 44118 (Cleveland-OH) distance 2.145109 miles

Warning: Variable $all is not an array or string in on line 3

Warning: Bad arguments to join() on line 4

Parse error: parse error on line 4

END OUTPUT

Am I referencing the array incorrectly? I have tried explode() to break the array into individual elements also with no luck either.

Is the output not being recognized as an array??

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated

Kev