PHP, shell_exec and an input

Question

is it possible for shell_exec to execute a given command, where the initial command would ask the for a dynamic input then followed by a command that's based on the input itself.

i've researched for hours for the answer and i can't seem to find what i'm looking for.

i have a requirement that's similar to the idea of the example below and any help would be appreciated since

$x = shell_exec("read -p 'Enter your name : ' x; echo 'Your name is' : $x");

echoing x outputs :

your name is

as you can see i'm running multiple commands, but i do not know where i can insert inside the string command for the input.

note : i tried doing

$x = shell_exec("echo 'Foo' | read -p 'Enter your name : ' x; echo 'Your name is :' $x");

echo $x;

output was :

Your name is :

i was expecting like

Your name is : Foo

clearly, something is wrong.

you need to escape $x inside the string $x = shell_exec("read -p 'Enter your name : ' x; echo 'Your name is' : \$x"); — MarcDefiant
– MarcDefiant, Commented Jul 31, 2012 at 10:36
i tried adding \ after the $x, the output was "your name is : $x" — adg
– adg, Commented Jul 31, 2012 at 12:25
@Dagon it's pretty long, related to fabric script (python) and php, basically, the idea is after i run that script, the server will ask me for a user password after the initial shell command, this has to be run from php because i will be supplying dynamic data to the command (concat variables to the command string) — adg
– adg, Commented Jul 31, 2012 at 12:27

Carlos Campderrós · Accepted Answer · 2012-07-31 10:32:04Z

1

I've come across the same problem as you with read other times. If you execute the same line on the terminal, the result is the same, so this is not a php issue, but a shell issue:

$ echo 'Foo' | read -p 'Enter your name : ' x; echo "Your name is : $x"
Your name is :

If you wrap the read inside a while .. do .. done, then it all works perfectly:

$ echo 'Foo' | while read -p 'Enter your name : ' x; do echo "Your name is : $x" ; done
Your name is : Foo

I don't know why this happens though.

Also you can try using proc_open and similar, and you'll get more control of the input/output streams, but I don't know whether they will work with the read issue.

answered Jul 31, 2012 at 10:32

Carlos Campderrós

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adg Over a year ago

/ mogria your combined suggestions have gave me the answer, with a lil trial and error, $x = shell_exec("echo 'foo' | while read -p 'enter your name : ' x; do echo 'your name is : ' \$x; done;"); echo $x; has produced what i needed. thanks guys

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