PHP - How to run multiple commands in system, exec or shell_exec?

Question

I'm trying to run shell command like this from php:

ls -a | grep mydir

But php only uses the first command. Is there any way to force php to pass the whole string to the shell?

(I don't care about the output)

Answer 1

shell_exec

Answer 2

If you want the output from the command, then you probably want the popen() function instead:

http://php.net/manual/en/function.popen.php

Answer 3

http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.proc-open.php

First open ls -a read the output, store it in a var, then open grep mydir write the output that you have stored from ls -a then read again the new output.

L.E.:

<?php
//ls -a | grep mydir

$proc_ls = proc_open("ls -a",
  array(
    array("pipe","r"), //stdin
    array("pipe","w"), //stdout
    array("pipe","w")  //stderr
  ),
  $pipes);

$output_ls = stream_get_contents($pipes[1]);
fclose($pipes[0]);
fclose($pipes[1]);
fclose($pipes[2]);
$return_value_ls = proc_close($proc_ls);


$proc_grep = proc_open("grep mydir",
  array(
    array("pipe","r"), //stdin
    array("pipe","w"), //stdout
    array("pipe","w")  //stderr
  ),
  $pipes);

fwrite($pipes[0], $output_ls);
fclose($pipes[0]);  
$output_grep = stream_get_contents($pipes[1]);

fclose($pipes[1]);
fclose($pipes[2]);
$return_value_grep = proc_close($proc_grep);


print $output_grep;
?>