PHP Execution Operator

Introduction

There is one Execution operator defined in PHP. A string inside back-ticks (``) is treated as a DOS command (a shell command in UNIX/Linux) and its output is returned. This operator is similar in operation to shell_exec() function in PHP.

Following code executes DIR command and returns result as string.

Example

<?php $list=`dir *.php`; echo "$list"; ?>

Output

Following result will be displayed

Volume in drive C is Windows 10 Volume Serial Number is 540D-CE99 Directory of C:\xampp\php 01/27/2016 05:32 PM 18,869 CompatInfo.php 07/08/2020 06:40 PM 64 test.php 07/11/2020 02:13 PM 48 testscript.php 03/30/2013 05:59 PM 1,447 webdriver-test-example.php 4 File(s) 20,428 bytes 0 Dir(s) 178,002,157,568 bytes free

Here is another example of backtick operator. It executes type command

Example

<?php $list='type testscript.php'; echo "$list"; ?>

Output

Following result will be displayed

type testscript.php