Is there a way for PHP to remain in the same directory between multiple backtick commands?

Question

I am planning to execute an operation using the backtick operator in a foreach loop. I want to change to the desired directory before the loop, and then iterate without needing to change the directory back.

The following simple test seems to show that you can not stay in the same directory between operations:

$output=`pwd`."<br />";
$output.=`cd ~/domains && pwd`."<br />";
$output.=`pwd`;
echo $output;
die;

// output

home-path
home-path/domains
home-path

Is there a way to accomplish this? Or should I just cd to the directory every time I execute in the foreach loop?

Sounds like you should just use the PHP functions [`chdir`](https://php.net/manual/en/function.chdir.php) and [`getcwd`](https://secure.php.net/manual/en/function.getcwd.php) — Alexander O'Mara, Apr 12 '16 at 16:15
@PedroLobito I'll be looping through a list and downloading files to a directory. I'd like to `cd` to that directory and then `wget` all the files — dlolsen, Apr 12 '16 at 16:17
@Kurt looks like this could work. Will test and see. Thanks. — dlolsen, Apr 12 '16 at 16:17
`chdir` worked. Feel dumb that I was looking for shell solution instead of a PHP one. Maybe this is a noob question (I'm a bit noob): do I wait for an answer, answer my own question, or delete it? — dlolsen, Apr 12 '16 at 16:33

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 12 '16 at 17:05

0

chdir was the winner! Modified my test and it works fine:

$output=getcwd()."<br />";
chdir('home-path/domains');
$output.=getcwd()."<br />";
$output.=`pwd`;
echo $output;
die;

// output

home-path
home-path/domains
home-path/domains

answered Apr 12 '16 at 17:05

dlolsen

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Is there a way for PHP to remain in the same directory between multiple backtick commands?

1 Answers1