running shell script from php not working properly

Question

I'm running this shell script from within a php script at the command prompt.

<?php
$monitorDir = 'logs';
$script = "" .
        " inotifywait -mqr --format '%w %f %e' $monitorDir | " .
        " while read dir file event;" .
        " do" .
        "   if [ \"\$event\" == \"CLOSE_WRITE,CLOSE\" ];" .
        "   then" .
        "     echo finished writing \$file; ".
        "    fi;" .
        " done";

$proc = proc_open($script, $descriptors, $pipes);

When I run it I end up with output that looks like this:

sh: 1: [: MODIFY: unexpected operator
sh: 1: [: CLOSE_WRITE,CLOSE: unexpected operator
sh: 1: [: MODIFY: unexpected operator
sh: 1: [: OPEN: unexpected operator
sh: 1: [: MODIFY: unexpected operator

The strange thing is, when I echo out $script in the php and paste the resulting output in to the command shell it runs fine.

It looks like the problem is around if [ \"\$event\" ==.

Anyone see what I'm missing here?

Edit

Below is the exact output rendered by the php, Appologies for the formatting but I thought I'd leave it 'as is' to demonstrate what is being produced.

inotifywait -mqr --format '%w %f %e' logs | while read dir file event; do if [ "$event" == "CLOSE_WRITE,CLOSE" ]; then     echo finished writing $file;   fi; done

As I say, when pasted in to the console it runs fine, it just fails when opened with proc open.

It's called debugging. Instead of pumping into proc_open and getting some errors being blind, first echo the $script and review it. When you're confident (strings are explained quite well in the PHP manual, otherwise ask) with the output and you've verified it's indeed the script you want to execute, bring back in the proc_open. — hakre
– hakre, Commented May 22, 2014 at 21:43
@hakre thanks for the comment, as I said in the post above, when I echo out $script and paste the result directly into the console it runs fine. any Ideas why it doesn't work from the php? — andrew
– andrew, Commented May 22, 2014 at 21:45
then it's perhaps because PHP wraps that in an additional shell. You should also add the echo $script output to the question. — hakre
– hakre, Commented May 22, 2014 at 21:50
Could I recommend using heredoc syntax here instead of string concatenation? I think it would make this a lot more maintainable, and easier to read. — Jordan Running
– Jordan Running, Commented May 22, 2014 at 22:05
For that matter, is there a reason you don't just write a shell script (in its own file) and then use PHP to call the shell script, passing it arguments instead of this variable interpolation mess? — Jordan Running
– Jordan Running, Commented May 22, 2014 at 22:07

ax. · Accepted Answer · 2014-05-22 22:09:31Z

1

Try escaping your $script with escapeshellcmd, e.g. proc_open(escapeshellcmd($script), ...).

Also, I think $\file should be \$file.

And then: your string will be much more readable - and you will spot errors easier - with Heredoc-syntax:

$script = <<<EOD

inotifywait -mqr --format '%w %f %e' $monitorDir | 
while read dir file event;
do
  if [ "\$event" == "CLOSE_WRITE,CLOSE" ];
  then
    echo finished writing \$file
   fi;
done
EOD;

answered May 22, 2014 at 22:09

ax.

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1 Comment

andrew Over a year ago

Thanks, I never did get this to work either, put the script into file as others suggested.

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