File lsiting exec(ls... using variables.

I'm trying to add a variable to the end of a directory listing. This will give me the root directory and show me all the files exec('ls /home/httpd/vhosts/sitename.com/httpdocs/resumes/', $filelist); I figured I could do this but it shows me all the files in the root of the site not of the folder I want. So what it seems is that it is ignoring the $path variable all together. $folder = $HTTP_GET_VARS['id']; $path = "/home/httpd/vhosts/sitename.com/httpdocs/resumes/$folder/"; exec('ls $path', $filelist); I've even tried to add echo but then nothing at all is listed: exec('ls <? echo $path; ?>', $filelist); Any ideas?