Run multiple Python scripts simultaneously from PHP

Question

I know if I want to run multiple Python scripts simultaneously I can knock up a bash file that looks like this;

#!/bin/bash
python pr1.py & 
python pr2.py &
python now.py &
python loader.py &

But what if I want to do the same thing directly from PHP? It seems clunky to call a bash script from PHP which then runs the Python scripts.

• iFlo: Possible duplicate of php execute a background process
• Ari Gold: stackoverflow.com/questions/11052162/run-bash-command-from-php & stackoverflow.com/questions/14155669/…
• remyremy: Have you found an answer to that?

Answer 1

Well, as far as that goes, it seems clunky to call a Python script from PHP, but you could try the shell_exec() function or execution operator.

• manners: Sure but how can I use shell_exec() to call multiple scripts simultaneously?

Answer 2

You can use proc_open to run multiple Python scripts simultaneously using PHP. This provides more control over the process, and we can handle them independently.

<?php
$pythonScriptPathOne = 'script1.py';
$pythonScriptPathTwo = 'script2.py';
$command1 = "python $pythonScriptPathOne";
$command2 = "python $pythonScriptPathTwo";
$descriptors = [
 0 => ['pipe', 'r'], // stdin
 1 => ['pipe', 'w'], // stdout
 2 => ['pipe', 'w'], // stderr
];
// Start the first Python script
$process1 = proc_open($command1, $descriptors, $pipes1);
if (is_resource($process1)) {
 fclose($pipes1[0]);
 // Start the second Python script
 $process2 = proc_open($command2, $descriptors, $pipes2);
 if (is_resource($process2)) {
 fclose($pipes2[0]);
 $output1 = stream_get_contents($pipes1[1]);
 fclose($pipes1[1]);
 proc_close($process1);
 $output2 = stream_get_contents($pipes2[1]);
 fclose($pipes2[1]);
 proc_close($process2);
 // Display the output
 echo "Output from script1: $output1\n";
 echo "Output from script2: $output2\n";
 }
}
?>
?>

Insert as many if as you want according to number of python programs. This works fine for me !