HELP (PLEASE) calling system() or exec() with lynx .. does not work

Time to ask the experts. I don't think it is really a PHP problem but dont know where to go next. I want to use lynx to either display and or save the the output of lynx. In my case a php URL thats been turned to ASCII text by lynx. I can't get lynx to 'see' the URL string if i do system("lynx -dump http://www.frustration.cxx"); nothing is returned by lynx. If is give it an illegal option such as -dxxx I get the error output from lynx, so I know I'm executing lynx. I've also tried quoteing the URL, and putting the whole thing into a variable first. system("lynx -dump \"http://URL\""); and exec("lynx -dump httpd://URL > /tmp/lynx.txt) will create the file, but it will be empty. but still the same. So, whats this frustrated person to do ? -pete