PHP calling Python, returning multiple values

Question

I'm setting up a SOAP server using php. In processing the SOAP requests, I will then need to call some existing python scripts. These scripts have typically returned 3 values: success, description, and data.

How do I pass all three values back to the php?

My request is:

exec('python test.py', $output);

test.py does:

from getData import getData

status, description, data = getData()

return status, description, data

and my existing python looks something like this:

def getData():
    database = Database()

    # get all the Data from the db
    data = database.getData()

    if data is None:
        return False, "...notes...", ""

    return True, "...notes...", data

I'm not sure the return in test.py is correct. But even if it is, when I look at var_dump($output) all I see is "Array"

Anyone have any ideas?

TIA,

Brian

What happens when you execute python test.py on the command line? — Bailey Parker
– Bailey Parker, Commented Jul 12, 2012 at 23:10
Good point. I did have print at first but changed to return. If I do a return I get "SyntaxError: 'return' outside function" — Brian Cox
– Brian Cox, Commented Jul 12, 2012 at 23:19

Michael Berkowski · Accepted Answer · 2012-07-12 23:32:34Z

5

Since the exec() call receives shell output into the variable $output, it has no way of receiving the returned strings from the Python functions. Instead of returning them, you must print them, and each printed line will go into the exec() array $output.

The main script must print the values to stdout:

from getData import getData
status, description, data = getData()

# Print the values
print("STATUS:", status)
print("DESCRIPTION:", description)
print("DATA:", data)

In PHP, examine the output you get back:

exec("python test.py", $output);
var_dump($output);

You will need to format your print statements in Python into something you can easily parse values from in PHP, such as one thing per line, or key: value pairs that you can explode().

edited Jul 12, 2012 at 23:32

answered Jul 12, 2012 at 23:11

Michael Berkowski

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10 Comments

Brian Cox Over a year ago

Ok, T/F would go to the exec's return_var then? If the "notes" that I listed in my example is a multi-line, variable length string, will I still be able to access this through $output[0] and the data in $output[1]?

Michael Berkowski Over a year ago

@BrianCox Sorry, I had that wrong. Your call to getData() can work as you had it, but you need to print the values from the python script. If you are expecting multi-line strings, you will need to devise some method to parse them out, like a key: value pair.

ernie Over a year ago

If the output is going to be complex, I'd think about encoding the python output into JSON, which would make reading it in PHP a bit easier.

Brian Cox Over a year ago

When I do (from the command line):python test_get_bcas.py I get: ('STATUS:', True, '\n') ('DESCRIPTION:', 'Success', '\n') ('DATA:', ['val1', 'val2'], '\n') Works as I would expect. But in the php, var_dump($output) gives me: array(0) { } Btw, thanks for the help with this. Python and PHP are both fairly new to me. I think I know just enough to be dangerous! :)

Brian Cox Over a year ago

@ernie JSON may be worth looking into as well. Thank you both for the sugggestions!

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