PHP execute command and log output without waiting

Question

I use exec() to execute command, either linux or windows.

How do you execute a command, linux and windows, and log the output without waiting?

I know for linux, to not wait for the output: command* > /dev/null 2>/dev/null &

And to log output for linux: command* > /path/to/log.txt 2>/path/to/error.txt

How would you go about logging and setting it to background in one command? How would windows look like too?

You can exec() including redirecting output to a file, and then read the file via PHP later on. — ametren
– ametren, Commented Jun 28, 2012 at 18:32
The & at the end put things in background. But that does not work in windows, that's linux. — hakre
– hakre, Commented Jun 28, 2012 at 18:34

hakre · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-28 19:00:25Z

23

On Linux you can do:

exec('command* > /dev/null 2>/dev/null &');

On Windows you can do:

pclose(popen('start /B cmd /C "command* >NUL 2>NUL"', 'r'));

Both examples disable output and errors, those go to /dev/null (linux) or NUL (windows) which means they are stored "nowhere".

You can replace these with valid paths on your system.

On Linux, a & at the end places it into background. On windows this is more complicated and needs start to invoke the process and cmd to allow redirection of the streams.

edited Jun 28, 2012 at 19:00

hakre

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answered Jun 28, 2012 at 18:32

Mike Mackintosh

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6 Comments

Mike Mackintosh Over a year ago

You could direct output to a file, and then fopen/!feof the log file

user1105430 Over a year ago

For linux, how would you go about logging and setting it to background in one command?

hakre Over a year ago

@user1105430: That has been answered in the answer. See the first line.

user1105430 Over a year ago

@hakre so I can use "command* > /path/to/log.txt 2>/path/to/error.txt &"?

CodiMech25 Over a year ago

It isn't mentioned, but you've to replace the entire command* (including the *) with your command. If you'll keep the *, it won't work.

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