whoami explanation

This really needs some explanation I found this on the web: <?php echo whoami; ?> with it there was the comment "the direction of those single-quotes matters" (WHY ?) and it works.... But this (_*FROM THE PHP MANUAL***_ * - exec()* executes the given /command/ ) does not, COPIED AND PASTED: |<?php // outputs the username that owns the running php/httpd process // (on a system with the "whoami" executable in the path) echo exec('whoami'); ?> | What is going on here? And I often find such discrepancies in examples - and some wonder why I seem to be so stupid... and don't know the fundamentals... :-\ -- Phil Jourdan --- pj@ptahhotep.com http://www.ptahhotep.com http://www.chiccantine.com