PHP call bash - Without waiting for a return
Blogs20112011-10-28
PHP call bash - Without waiting for a return
Recently I did a web-based server-side process:
There is 4 buttons in a form, to sequently process a complex task:
<form>
<input name="button1" type="button" value="step 1: click to run long-time server-side processing." />
<input name="button2" type="button" value="step 2: click to batch process data with Database" />
<input name="button3" type="button" value="step 3: Cancel the process while running." />
<input name="button4" type="button" value="step 4: send a email to congradulate sucessfully process." />
</form>As it lists, each button has its function:
- step 1: when click, a server-side bash script is triggered, to execute long-time upload task, probably more than 1 hour to complete.
- step 2: when click, a server-side bash script is triggered, the above uploaded data is processed and inserted into Database.
- step 3: when click, the above processing is cancelled.
- step 4: when click, send email to celebrate.
This process involves commands PHP call Linux. such as exec, system, shell_exec, etc. The following is my version:
...
if(isset($_GET['step_1'])) {
// exec("nohup linux_pth/getCSV.bash >/dev/null 2>&1 &");
$files = preg_replace("/,/", " ", $_GET['files']);
exec("linux_pth/run.bash $files >/dev/null 2>&1");
}
elseif(isset($_GET['step_2'])) {
// sync: need result immediately.
system("linux_pth/process.bash >/dev/null 2>&1", $retval);
if ($retval == 0) echo $du->errors['4'];
else echo $error;
}
elseif(isset($_GET['step_3'])) {
// need return variable, result immediately.
system("kill -9 `ps -ef|grep getCSV|grep -v grep|grep -v vi|awk '{print $2}'`", $retval);
echo $retval;
}
elseif(isset($_GET['step_4'])) {
send_email($success_message);
}PHP is not suitable for server-side processing, however, for some special case(such as web-based process), it has to do so.