Last updated: Fri, 10 Oct 2008

ssh2_exec

(PECL ssh2:0.10-0.9)

ssh2_exec — Execute a command on a remote server

Description

resource ssh2_exec ( resource $session , string $command [, string $pty [, array $env [, int $width [, int $height [, int $width_height_type ]]]]] )

Execute a command at the remote end and allocate a channel for it.

Parameters

session: An SSH connection link identifier, obtained from a call to ssh2_connect().
command
pty
env: env may be passed as an associative array of name/value pairs to set in the target environment.
width: Width of the virtual terminal.
height: Height of the virtual terminal.
width_height_type: width_height_type should be one of SSH2_TERM_UNIT_CHARS or SSH2_TERM_UNIT_PIXELS.

Return Values

Returns a stream on success or FALSE on failure.

Examples

Example #1 Executing a command


<?php
$connection = ssh2_connect('shell.example.com', 22);
ssh2_auth_password($connection, 'username', 'password');

$stream = ssh2_exec($connection, '/usr/local/bin/php -i');
?>


if you are using exec function, and have problems with a output > 1000 lines

you should use  



                stream_set_blocking($stream, true);

                while($line = fgets($stream)) {

                        flush();

                        echo $line."<br />";

                }

except



                stream_set_blocking($stream, true);

               echo stream_get_contents($stream);

Betsy Gamrat
16-Apr-2007 03:52


It is also good to use register_shutdown_function to shred the keys after this runs.

Jon-Eirik Pettersen
11-Mar-2007 12:33


The command  may not finish before the function return if the stream is not set to blocking mode. You may have to set the stream to blocking mode in order to get any output from the command.



<?php

  // [Open connection]

  // ...



  $stream = ssh2_exec($connection, 'ps ax');

  stream_set_blocking($stream, true);

  

  // The command may not finish properly if the stream is not read to end

  $output = stream_get_contents($stream);

  

  // ...

  // [Close stream and connection]

?>

Betsy Gamrat
18-Feb-2007 08:00


If the ssh2_exec takes awhile to run, and you need a handshake, you can use a file.  In this case, $flag names a handshake file that is written when the ssh script finishes.



                $stream = ssh2_exec($connection, $command . " $public_key $private_key;");

                $i=0;

                while (!file_exists ($flag) && ($i < MAX_TIME))

                {

                        sleep(1);

                        $i++;

                }

                $ret_val=($stream!=FALSE);



This is an extract out of the bash script that is running.  Be sure to allow the webserver permission to read the file that the script writes.



echo 0 > $OUTFILE

chmod 666 $OUTFILE



One other note:  you can put more than one command in by separating them with ';' (semicolons).

col at pobox dot com
15-Oct-2006 11:55


as of 0.9 and above, if not allocating a pty, add FALSE to the call...



old way:



ssh2_exec($connection, $command);



new way:



ssh2_exec($connection, $command, FALSE);

tabber dot watts at gmail dot com
02-Dec-2005 11:21


This is the best way I found to automatically run multiple commands or commands that might take longer then expected.  NOTE: this assumes that no where in the output is there the text '[end]' otherwise the function will end prematurely.  Hope this helps people.



<?php

$ip = 'ip_address';

$user = 'username';

$pass = 'password';



$connection = ssh2_connection($ip);

ssh2_auth_password($connection,$user,$pass);

$shell = ssh2_shell($connection,"bash");



//Trick is in the start and end echos which can be executed in both *nix and windows systems. 

//Do add 'cmd /C' to the start of $cmd if on a windows system.

$cmd = "echo '[start]';your commands here;echo '[end]'";

$output = user_exec($shell,$cmd);



fclose($shell);



function user_exec($shell,$cmd) {

  fwrite($shell,$cmd . "\n");

  $output = "";

  $start = false;

  $start_time = time();

  $max_time = 2; //time in seconds

  while(((time()-$start_time) < $max_time)) {

    $line = fgets($shell);

    if(!strstr($line,$cmd)) {

      if(preg_match('/\[start\]/',$line)) {

        $start = true;

      }elseif(preg_match('/\[end\]/',$line)) {

        return $output;

      }elseif($start){

        $output[] = $line;

      }

    }

  }

}



?>

gakksimian at yahoo dot com
07-Sep-2005 06:15


Executing remote Windows commands...

After some hair pulling, I thought I'd suggest a couple things that might help others:



1. Use 'ssh2_fetch_stream' to open a stderr stream according to the manual.

2. Windows shell commands require 'cmd /C [command]' to execute.  (I had forgotten this)



<?php

    // code fragment

    $stdout_stream = ssh2_exec($connection, 'cmd /C dir');

    $stderr_stream = ssh2_fetch_stream($stdout_stream, SSH2_STREAM_STDERR);

?>



I didn't realize the need for the 'cmd /C' until I saw the stderr response 'dir: not found'.

yairl at savion dot huji dot ac dot il
09-Jun-2005 01:03


If you want to run many exec orders throught ssh2 in the same process using the same variable $stream for exemple and to read the output for each order, you must close the stream after each order else you will not be able to read the next order output.



 $stream=ssh2_exec($conn_id,"/usr/bin/ls .");

    stream_set_blocking( $stream, true );

    $cmd=fread($stream,4096);

fclose($stream);



if(ereg("public_html",$cmd)){

...........................................

}



 $stream=ssh2_exec($conn_id,"/usr/bin/ls public_html");

    stream_set_blocking( $stream, true );

    $cmd=fread($stream,4096);

fclose($stream);



if(ereg("images",$cmd)){

..........................................

}



 

$stream=ssh2_exec($conn_id,"/usr/bin/ls public_html/images");

    stream_set_blocking( $stream, true );

    $cmd=fread($stream,4096);

fclose($stream);



if(ereg("blabla",$cmd)){

..........................................

}

add a note

ssh2_fetch_stream

ssh2_connect