PHP exec $PATH variable missing elements

Question

When I echo $PATH on my command line, it returns

/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/Applications/MAMP/Library/bin:/usr/local/git/bin:/usr/X11/bin

When I execute this php code

exec('echo $PATH; whoami; less /etc/paths; 2>&1')

I get

string 'echo $PATH; whoami; less /etc/paths; 2>&1' (length=56)
array
  0 => string '/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin' (length=29)
  1 => string 'eric' (length=4)
  2 => string '/usr/bin' (length=8)
  3 => string '/bin' (length=4)
  4 => string '/usr/sbin' (length=9)
  5 => string '/sbin' (length=5)
  6 => string '/usr/local/bin' (length=14)
  7 => string '/Applications/MAMP/Library/bin' (length=30)
  8 => string '/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin' (length=29)

This is on Mac OS X. Can anyone tell me why my last two path elements are missing?

Are you calling PHP within apache or in cli

mathk
– mathk

2010-08-07 11:58:38 +00:00
Commented Aug 7, 2010 at 11:58 — mathk
– mathk, Commented Aug 7, 2010 at 11:58

karim79 · Accepted Answer · 2010-08-07 00:34:17Z

14

Try executing this before you call exec:

putenv("PATH=" .$_ENV["PATH"]. ':/usr/local/git/bin:/usr/X11/bin');

answered Aug 7, 2010 at 0:34

karim79

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2 Comments

Eric Cope Over a year ago

if I use getenv("PATH"), it returns the proper path with my appending it.

geerlingguy Over a year ago

For example, I just needed to do putenv("PATH=" . getenv('PATH'));

Dennis Williamson · Accepted Answer · 2010-08-07 01:32:16Z

8

What does:

php -r 'print getenv("PATH");'

give you?

It's likely the shell that PHP spawns (probably sh instead of bash) isn't getting the same environment that you have at the command line. You don't say how you're running your exec command.

This will show you which shell is being run:

php -r 'echo shell_exec("echo $0");'

You may need to use the putenv command or determine whether your path needs to be set in /etc/profile, ~/.profile or ~/.bashrc in order for it to be picked up.

answered Aug 7, 2010 at 1:32

Dennis Williamson

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1 Comment

Dennis Williamson Over a year ago

@Eric: Try setting and exporting ENV in the environment that you're running your script from (before you run it). For example: export ENV=/etc/profile or export ENV=/home/username/.profile. (If you use /.bashrc, you'll need to put code in it that prevents sh from running Bash-specific code that it can't understand.) The Bourne shell only sources those files automatically when it's a login shell.

CuriousRabbit · Accepted Answer · 2010-09-20 21:51:12Z

2

Environment variables on Mac OS X are set by differing mechanisms depending on how your code, or its parent process, was launched. To insure that items launched from an interactive shell and items launched by the WindowServer have the same path, you need to keep ~/.MacOSX/environment.plist in sync with what is set in .profile (or .cshrc).

answered Sep 20, 2010 at 21:51

CuriousRabbit

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