Executing python script from php function?

Question

I want to execute a python script,test.py, from a php function.

#!/usr/bin/env python
import random
def test() :
 print("test success")
if __name__ == '__main__':
 test()

I can successfully execute it using php command line:

php -r '$message = exec("python3 ~/../scripts/test.py"); print_r($message);' 

I've added the following to my php code:

$message = exec("python3 ~/../scripts/test.py", $output, $return_val); 

When I execute it, nothing is output (no errors in devtools). When I print the variables, $output and $message are empty and $return_val is 2 (misuse of shell builtins according to Bash documentation).

I know exec() is allowed after adding the following into the same function:

if (exec('echo TEST') == 'TEST')
 {
 echo 'exec works!';
 }

What could be causing this error? How can I execute the python script with php?

Answer 1

Your web server does not share your home directory, so ~ will point to the wrong place. Specify the full path of the file instead.

python3 will exit with 2 when it can't find the file, along with a helpful message on stderr. The web server error logs will confirm this, as will adding 2>&1 to your command to capture stderr as stdout in your variable.

• Don: That was it! Ha, so obvious now. The exit code confused me a bit. Thanks!