Php command

[Anon]

I would like to ask if there is a function in php that can run a linux script command and return the result as a string?

e.g, I want to write a php that runs a linux script command and get the result from the command and use it as a string in the original php.

[brandonschnell]

$cmd_str = something.sh;
echo $cmd_str;

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

[Anon]

For my case, I need to get some valuable from the client side, e.g. username,
then, what I need to do is make a linux command with the username
e.g. "rm $username", if that command contains a return value, how can I get that return string in the php?

Thank you.

[brandonschnell]

$username = whoami;
$result = rm $username;

deleles a file in the current dir with the same name as the current username that php is running under

[smarlowe]

If you are taking input from a user to use in a shell command, you need to run it through escapeshellarg() to make sure they aren't trying to hack your machine to do things it shouldn't by putting an entire script into the variable, which is pretty easy to do in Unix.

Then there are several different commands that will let you execute a command and return / not return output.

So, assuming you got $username from a form...

$username=escapeshellarg($username);
$exec="rmdir $username";
print "Now running command: \"$exec\"";
$result=$exec; # Backtick op OR
$result=exec($exec); # Returns last line OR
$result=system($exec); # Returns all output