possible to run functions in parallel?

[wrybread]

I'm not sure if that subject accurately describes my problem. Here's the gist: I want to run Function A without causing the rest of my script to wait for it to complete.

Is such a thing possible?

If anyone wants specifics, the script waits for data from another server. When it receives this data, it uploads it to a web server using Function A. The problem is, while it's uploading the file, it's no longer listening for the data, so we're missing stuff.

Thanks for any help.

[mtmosier]

A simple way of doing it would be to do a system call to execute a separate php script using the cli version of php. I've done that before, using the nohup command and backgrounding the process (on linux).

The more interesting way is to fork the process. Check out the process control functions. I haven't tried it myself yet, but I'm pretty sure that's what you want.