What are some alternative functions to shell_exec() that can be used on a Windows server for similar tasks?

When working on a Windows server, the shell_exec() function may not always be available or suitable for executing shell commands. In such cases, alternative functions like exec(), system(), or proc_open() can be used to achieve similar tasks. These functions allow you to execute shell commands and retrieve their output within a PHP script on a Windows server.

// Using exec() function as an alternative to shell_exec() on a Windows server
$output = array();
exec('your_shell_command_here', $output);
echo implode("\n", $output);