note 101579 added to function.exec

In Windows, exec() issues an internal call to "cmd /c your_command". This implies that your command must follow the rules imposed by cmd.exe which includes an extra set of quotes around the full command: - http://ss64.com/nt/cmd.html Current PHP versions take this into account and add the quotes automatically, but old versions didn't. Apparently, the change was made in PHP/5.3.0 yet not backported to 5.2.x because it's a backwards incompatible change. To sum up: - In PHP/5.2 and older you have to surround the full command plus arguments in double quotes - In PHP/5.3 and greater you don't have to (if you do, your script will break) If you are interested in the internals, this is the source code: sprintf(cmd, "%s /c \"%s\"", TWG(comspec), command); It can be found at http://svn.php.net/viewvc/ (please find php/php-src/trunk/TSRM/tsrm_win32.c, the comment system doesn't allow the direct link). ---- Server IP: 80.64.47.13 Probable Submitter: 80.37.14.51 ---- Manual Page -- http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.exec.php Edit -- https://master.php.net/note/edit/101579 Del: integrated -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/101579/integrated Del: useless -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/101579/useless Del: bad code -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/101579/bad+code Del: spam -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/101579/spam Del: non-english -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/101579/non-english Del: in docs -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/101579/in+docs Del: other reasons-- https://master.php.net/note/delete/101579 Reject -- https://master.php.net/note/reject/101579 Search -- https://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php