Using exec() or system()

[airedale]

I am looking to execute a program that will run in the background since I don't want it tieing up my php page - plust the output isn't pretty.

What I am running into is the fact that I want to have PHP be able to read the data that is coming back from the running program and actually parse that data and display it back on the web page. Anyone have any ideas on how I can at least be able to get the output from a program that is running and be able to somehow read it back in through php?

Thanks,

Adam Cavaliere

[bubblenut]

[man]shell_exec[/man] or just the backtick (`), can find this in the manual as well.
HTH
Bubble