note 88052 added to function.shell-exec

A simple way to handle the problem of capturing stderr output when using shell-exec under windows is to call ob_start() before the command and ob_end_clean() afterwards, like this: <?php ob_start() $dir = shell_exec('dir B:'); if is_null($dir) { // B: does not exist // do whatever you want with the stderr output here } else { // B: exists and $dir holds the directory listing // do whatever you want with it here } ob_end_clean(); // get rid of the evidence :-) ?> If B: does not exist then $dir will be Null and the output buffer will have captured the message: 'The system cannot find the path specified'. (under WinXP, at least). If B: exists then $dir will contain the directory listing and we probably don't care about the output buffer. In any case it needs to be deleted before proceeding. ---- Server IP: 92.48.74.199 Probable Submitter: 81.86.122.70 ---- Manual Page -- http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.shell-exec.php Edit -- https://master.php.net/note/edit/88052 Del: integrated -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/88052/integrated Del: useless -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/88052/useless Del: bad code -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/88052/bad+code Del: spam -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/88052/spam Del: non-english -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/88052/non-english Del: in docs -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/88052/in+docs Del: other reasons-- https://master.php.net/note/delete/88052 Reject -- https://master.php.net/note/reject/88052 Search -- https://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php