What are some common methods in PHP to execute Linux command line programs?

When working with PHP, you may need to execute Linux command line programs from your code. One common method to achieve this is by using the `exec()` function in PHP. This function allows you to run a command and capture the output. Another method is using the `shell_exec()` function, which also executes a command and returns the complete output as a string. Additionally, you can use the `system()` function, which is similar to `exec()` but it echoes the output directly to the browser. 

// Using exec() function
$output = exec('ls -la');
echo $output;

// Using shell_exec() function
$output = shell_exec('ls -la');
echo $output;

// Using system() function
system('ls -la');

Keywords

shell_exec exec system passthru backticks

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