Check if "exec" is disabled

Question

Is there any function in PHP that I can use to detect whether or not the exec function is available?

Answer 1

<?php
function exec_enabled() {
  $disabled = explode(', ', ini_get('disable_functions'));
  return !in_array('exec', $disabled);
}
?>

Answer 2

You can search the ini setting disable_functions for the exec() function.

if( false !== strpos(ini_get("disable_functions"), "exec") ) {
 // exec() is disabled

Just for completeness, note that PHP Safe Mode puts some restrictions on the function too.