pexec

Overview ¶

Package pexec exposes process execution to PHP: exec runs a command through the shell the way PHP's does, escapeshellarg quotes an argument for it, and posix_getpid names the running process.

exec's $output works because arrays are shared: the binding appends into the array the caller passed, which is the same observable result PHP reaches by reference. $result_code has no such route — an integer cannot be written back — so it is accepted and ignored.