PHP RFC: Add an optional parameter $result_code to shell_exec()

• Version: 1
• Date: 2021-11-21
• Author: Luca Petrucci, luca@lucapetrucci.net
• Status: Under discussion
• First Published at: http://wiki.php.net/rfc/shell_exec_result_code_param

The shell_exec() function is used to execute an external program and grab its entire output as a string, but it lacks a way to capture the exit code of the launched program contrarily to all the other functions of the same family (exec, system, passthru).

This RFC proposes the addition of a second, optional parameter $result_code to the shell_exec() function:

 function shell_exec(string $command, &$result_code = null): string|false|null {} 

If $result_code is present, the function will put the return code of the program into it. The same parameter and behaviour is found in exec(), system() and passthru() functions.

No backward compatibility breaks.

Next PHP 8.x, currently PHP 8.2.

None.

None.

None.

No new constants introduced.

No new php.ini options introduced.

• Behaviour of shell_exec() when called with one parameter will not change;
• Backtick operator functionality is unaffected.

Yes/No vote, super majority of 2/3 required to pass.

• Pull request (Github)

• Relevant feature request posted by another user (Bugsnet)
• Functions that already have the return_code parameter:
  • exec()
  • system()
  • passthru()