CODEWITHSUNDEEP
phpprocessexec
user1593328
user1593328

Reputation: 1

How to execute separate process in PHP

I want to run service in PHP which to be run in the background. I have tried by using exec() function in PHP but service is being run in infinite loop and control is not returning back over PHP file. I have searched more over the internet but I can't find the solution. Please give me some idea or reference to achieve this task.

This is code for reference what I want to do:-

echo"hello";
exec("raintree.frm");
echo"hello1";

raintree.frm is a service which I want to execute. Here PHP script prints "hello" over browser but that is not coming on "hello1" because control gets stuck on exec() function.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 10276

Answers (3)

gvlasov
gvlasov

Reputation: 20015

You can make use of atd for running arbitrary commands in a separate process:

shell_exec('echo code you want to run | at -m now');

For this, atd should be installed and running, of course.

Upvotes: 1

Adelmar
Adelmar

Reputation: 2101

The exec() function is waiting to receive the output of the externally executed command.

To prevent this from happening, you can redirect the output elsewhere:

<?php

echo 'hello1';
exec('raintree.frm > /dev/null &');
echo 'hello2';

This example will output "hello1hello2" without waiting for raintree.frm > /dev/null & to finish.

(this probably only works with Unix-like operating systems)

Upvotes: -2

Havelock
Havelock

Reputation: 6968

If you'd like to have your service running in a separate process, as the title states, you need to create the new process and then run the service in it. In PHP you can create a new process with pcntl_fork() and start the service in the child process. Something like this 

echo "hello";
$pid = pcntl_fork();
switch($pid){
    case -1:    // pcntl_fork() failed
        die('could not fork');
    case 0:    // you're in the new (child) process
        exec("raintree.frm");
        // controll goes further down ONLY if exec() fails
        echo 'exec() failed';
    default:  // you're in the main (parent) process in which the script is running
        echo "hello1";
}

For more clarification read the manual (the link above to pcntl_fork()) as well as look at some C/Unix tutorials on the topics (or rather syscalls) fork() and exec().

Upvotes: 4

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