system commands

[ktsirig]

Hi all!
I call a system program through PHP, using the system commands provided by PHP (like system, exec etc)

Q1: Is there a way (I think using the return values) to make sure that the program has run? I mean, not take the data from the program if the program has encountered any kind of internal error and didn't ran correctly.

Q2: How can I pass the data that I take from the program to a string, in order to handle them and present them to the user the way I want?

The command I use is something like:

$command = shell_exec ('program_name argum1 argum2');

argum1 and argum2 are arguments that I feed the program with.
Will the '> tmp_file' store the data I take as result from the program into the tmp_file or must I use something else?
Thanx