exec Execute an external program &reftitle.description; stringexec stringcommand arrayoutput intreturn_var exec executes the given command, however it does not output anything. It simply returns the last line from the result of the command. If you need to execute a command and have all the data from the command passed directly back without any interference, use the passthru function. If the output argument is present, then the specified array will be filled with every line of output from the command. Line endings, such as \n, are not included in this array. Note that if the array already contains some elements, exec will append to the end of the array. If you do not want the function to append elements, call unset on the array before passing it to exec. If the return_var argument is present along with the output argument, then the return status of the executed command will be written to this variable. ]]> &warn.escapeshell; ¬e.exec-bg; ¬e.exec-path; &warn.sm.exec; See also system, passthru, popen, escapeshellcmd pcntl_exec, and the backtick operator.