'Running a Python script from PHP

I'm trying to run a Python script from PHP using the following command:

exec('/usr/bin/python2.7 /srv/http/assets/py/switch.py arg1 arg2');

However, PHP simply doesn't produce any output. Error reporting is set to E_ALL and display_errors is on.

Here's what I've tried:

  • I used python2, /usr/bin/python2 and python2.7 instead of /usr/bin/python2.7
  • I also used a relative path instead of an absolute path which didn't change anything either.
  • I tried using the commands exec, shell_exec, system.

However, if I run

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

it works perfectly fine while shutdown now doesn't do anything.

PHP has the permissions to access and execute the file.

EDIT: Thanks to Alejandro, I was able to fix the problem. If you have the same problem, don't forget that your webserver probably/hopefully doesn't run as root. Try logging in as your webserver's user or a user with similar permissions and try to run the commands yourself.

phppythonlinuxexecarchlinux


Solution 1:[1]

I recommend using passthru and handling the output buffer directly:

ob_start();
passthru('/usr/bin/python2.7 /srv/http/assets/py/switch.py arg1 arg2');
$output = ob_get_clean();

Solution 2:[2]

If you want to know the return status of the command and get the entire stdout output you can actually use exec:

$command = 'ls';
exec($command, $out, $status);

$out is an array of all lines. $status is the return status. Very useful for debugging.

If you also want to see the stderr output you can either play with proc_open or simply add 2>&1 to your $command. The latter is often sufficient to get things working and way faster to "implement".

Solution 3:[3]

To clarify which command to use based on the situation

exec() - Execute an external program

system() - Execute an external program and display the output

passthru() - Execute an external program and display raw output

Source: http://php.net/manual/en/function.exec.php

Solution 4:[4]

Alejandro nailed it, adding clarification to the exception (Ubuntu or Debian) - I don't have the rep to add to the answer itself:

sudoers file: sudo visudo

exception added: www-data ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL

Solution 5:[5]

In my case I needed to create a new folder in the www directory called scripts. Within scripts I added a new file called test.py.

I then used sudo chown www-data:root scripts and sudo chown www-data:root test.py.

Then I went to the new scripts directory and used sudo chmod +x test.py.

My test.py file it looks like this. Note the different Python version:

#!/usr/bin/env python3.5
print("Hello World!")

From php I now do this:

$message = exec("/var/www/scripts/test.py 2>&1");
print_r($message);

And you should see: Hello World!

Solution 6:[6]

The above methods seem to be complex. Use my method as a reference.

I have these two files:

  • run.php

  • mkdir.py

Here, I've created an HTML page which contains a GO button. Whenever you press this button a new folder will be created in directory whose path you have mentioned.

run.php

<html>
 <body>
  <head>
   <title>
     run
   </title>
  </head>

   <form method="post">

    <input type="submit" value="GO" name="GO">
   </form>
 </body>
</html>

<?php
	if(isset($_POST['GO']))
	{
		shell_exec("python /var/www/html/lab/mkdir.py");
		echo"success";
	}
?>

mkdir.py

#!/usr/bin/env python    
import os    
os.makedirs("thisfolder");

Solution 7:[7]

This is so trivial, but just wanted to help anyone who already followed along Alejandro's suggestion but encountered this error:

sh: blabla.py: command not found

If anyone encountered that error, then a little change needs to be made to the php file by Alejandro:

$command = escapeshellcmd('python blabla.py');

Solution 8:[8]

Inspired by Alejandro Quiroz:

<?php 

$command = escapeshellcmd('python test.py');
$output = shell_exec($command);
echo $output;

?>

Need to add Python, and don't need the path.

Solution 9:[9]

All the options above create new system process. Which is a performance nightmare. For this purpose I stitched together PHP module with "transparent" calls to Python.

https://github.com/kirmorozov/runpy

It may be tricky to compile, but will save system processes and will let you keep Python runtime between PHP calls.

Sources

This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Overflow and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Source: Stack Overflow

Solution Source
Solution 1 Niklas Lindblad
Solution 2
Solution 3
Solution 4 Colin Miles
Solution 5 Tim Hallman
Solution 6 Ronan Boiteau
Solution 7
Solution 8 Punnerud
Solution 9 Kirill Morozov

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