note 48965 added to function.exec

I wanted my script to: * execute an external command. * check if the execution was ok. (i.e. the return level) * log the error output if the execution wasn't ok. * not print the command's output in my script's output. I saw the exec, system, shell_exec and passthru functions, and deduced that the solution was to redirect the standard error (stderr) to the standard output (stdout). It's not very clean, since it mixes stderr with stderr, and I only wanted to log the stderr. But it seems to be the only solution (suggestions are welcome). This is the code I use: <?php $com= "ls"; # command exec("$com 2>&1", $out, $err); if ($err) my_log_func(join("\n", $out)); ?> ---- Manual Page -- http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.exec.php Edit -- http://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php?action=edit+48965 Delete -- http://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php?action=delete+48965&report=yes Reason: bad code -- http://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php?action=delete+48965&report=yes&reason=bad+code Reason: spam -- http://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php?action=delete+48965&report=yes&reason=spam Reason: useless example -- http://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php?action=delete+48965&report=yes&reason=useless+example Reason: contains commercial links -- http://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php?action=delete+48965&report=yes&reason=contains+commercial+links Reason: useless note -- http://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php?action=delete+48965&report=yes&reason=useless+note Reject -- http://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php?action=reject+48965&report=yes Search -- http://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php