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Doc Bug #80230 Doc for exec specifies & (reference) param, fails
Submitted: 2020-10-13 19:45 UTC Modified: 2020-10-13 20:28 UTC
From: per at perit dot se Assigned:
Status: Closed Package: Documentation problem
PHP Version: Irrelevant OS: Linux
Private report: No CVE-ID: None
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 [2020-10-13 19:45 UTC] per at perit dot se
Description:
------------
---
From manual page: https://php.net/function.exec
---
The documentation specifies syntax
exec ( string $command [, array &$output [, int &$return_var ]] ) : string

This syntax breaks PHP, and according to numerous internet articles like https://stackoverflow.com/questions/8971261/php-5-4-call-time-pass-by-reference-easy-fix-available explaining it has been so a while:
> As of PHP 5.3.0, you will get a warning saying that "call-time pass-by-reference" is deprecated when you use & in foo(&$a);.

Please update the documentation with correct syntax, and if/when it differs for specific versions, please note the version and change in question - now it incorrectly claims to be valid for "(PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 7)"



Test script:
---------------
$ cat > test-ref-arg.php
<?php
  exec ( "pwd", &$output );  
  echo "Got output: ";
  var_dump($output);

$ php test-ref-arg.php
PHP Fatal error:  Call-time pass-by-reference has been removed in /home/xx/IMPORT/test-ref-arg on line 2

/opt/rh/rh-php73/root/bin/php test-ref-arg.php
PHP Parse error:  syntax error, unexpected '&', expecting ')' in /home/xx/test-ref-arg.php on line 2



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 [2020-10-13 20:04 UTC] rowan dot collins at gmail dot com
The documentation is showing you the *signature* of the function, not the *usage*. An actual declaration in userland would in fact look something like this:

function exec (string $command, ?array &$output=null, ?int &$return_var=null): string { .... }

The manual page could do with an example of using those params though, which would look something like this:

$output=null;
$retval=null;
exec('whoami', $output, $retval);
echo "Returned with status $retval and output $output";
 [2020-10-13 20:28 UTC] cmb@php.net
-Status: Open +Status: Verified
 [2020-10-13 20:28 UTC] cmb@php.net
What Rowan said.  And yes, there should be an example.

Note that there is also an appendix on "How to read a function
definition (prototype)"[1]

> "(PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 7)"

That just means that function is available for PHP 4, 5 and 7; it
does not imply that it worked exactly the same in older versions.
In fact, the manual currently is supposed to document only PHP 7
(there is few info about PHP 8, and still some info about PHP 5,
though).

[1] <https://www.php.net/manual/en/about.prototypes.php>
 [2020-12-09 15:46 UTC] cmb@php.net
Automatic comment from SVN on behalf of cmb
Revision: http://svn.php.net/viewvc/?view=revision&amp;revision=351975
Log: Fix #80230: Doc for exec specifies &amp; (reference) param, fails
 [2020-12-09 15:48 UTC] phpdocbot@php.net
Automatic comment on behalf of cmb
Revision: http://git.php.net/?p=doc/en.git;a=commit;h=d54819610d84aa50a3223b99c9946d58cc489b3a
Log: Fix #80230: Doc for exec specifies &amp; (reference) param, fails
 [2020-12-09 15:48 UTC] phpdocbot@php.net
-Status: Verified +Status: Closed
 [2020-12-10 00:57 UTC] mumumu@php.net
Automatic comment from SVN on behalf of mumumu
Revision: http://svn.php.net/viewvc/?view=revision&amp;revision=351986
Log: Fix #80230: Doc for exec specifies &amp; (reference) param, fails
 [2020-12-10 01:00 UTC] phpdocbot@php.net
Automatic comment on behalf of mumumu
Revision: http://git.php.net/?p=doc/ja.git;a=commit;h=7ec033469c79a2a5031a9f6fa43165aeacd7a7dd
Log: Fix #80230: Doc for exec specifies &amp; (reference) param, fails
 [2020-12-30 11:58 UTC] nikic@php.net
Automatic comment on behalf of mumumu
Revision: http://git.php.net/?p=doc/ja.git;a=commit;h=44a2d73314573edddf0bf7cc3964c3e640b04582
Log: Fix #80230: Doc for exec specifies &amp; (reference) param, fails
 [2024-01-16 21:22 UTC] wed4fg_fffg1 at gmail dot com
Very Good...!

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