exec() error responses

Question

Lets take this command for example:

$command = "echo '/just/for/the/test /heh/' | awk '//just// {print $1}'";

When directly copying it inside shell, I get the following error:

awk: cmd. line:1: //just// {print $1}
awk: cmd. line:1:         ^ unterminated regexp

But, when I exec() it, I get status code 1 with no output:

exec($command, $output, $status);

var_dump( $command, $output, $status );

// string(69) "echo '/just/for/the/test /heh/' | awk '//just// {print $1}'"
// array(0) { }
// int(1)

How to retrieve the STDERR part of exec?

Answer 1

You should redirect stderr to stdout somehow like this

$stout = exec($command . " 2>&1", $output, $status);

See also here PHP StdErr after Exec()