shell_exec Execute command via shell and return the complete output as a string &reftitle.description; stringfalsenullshell_exec stringcommand This function is identical to the backtick operator. On Windows, the underlying pipe is opened in text mode which can cause the function to fail for binary output. Consider to use popen instead for such cases. &reftitle.parameters; command The command that will be executed. &reftitle.returnvalues; A &string; containing the output from the executed command, &false; if the pipe cannot be established or &null; if an error occurs or the command produces no output. This function can return &null; both when an error occurs or the program produces no output. It is not possible to detect execution failures using this function. exec should be used when access to the program exit code is required. &reftitle.errors; An E_WARNING level error is generated when the pipe cannot be established. &reftitle.examples; $output"; ?> ]]> &reftitle.seealso; exec escapeshellcmd