Question

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Why is PHP not replacing the variable in string?

I have been trying to execute this line echo exec('hi.exe $file',$results,$status); from Php. where the value assigned to $file is the filename hi.txt (i.e. $file = hi.txt).

But each time i try to run my code with the same line, its showing error as $file file not found where as if i run the same hi.exe hi.txt in a command prompt its working.

And also if i try to run the same line with the filename instead of a variable from php i.e.exec('hi.exe hi.txt',$results,$status), the browser keeps executing for long time without giving the output.

Please someone tell me where i am going wrong!

Answer 1

You are using single quotes, instead of double quotes. Change echo exec('hi.exe $file',$results,$status); to:

echo exec("hi.exe $file",$results,$status);

or use a dot, like this:

echo exec('hi.exe '.$file,$results,$status);

In PHP, using single quotes won’t turn $file into hi.txt; it just stays as the literal string, “$file”. Use double quotes or dot concatenation to actually expand $file into hi.txt