Powershell output to PHP variable using shell_exec

Question

I have a powershell script which outputs a video file duration. Running this script gives me the expected result.

$Folder = 'C:\my\path\to\folder'
$File = 'sample1_1280_720.mp4'
$LengthColumn = 27
$objShell = New-Object -ComObject Shell.Application 
$objFolder = $objShell.Namespace($Folder)
$objFile = $objFolder.ParseName($File)
$Length = $objFolder.GetDetailsOf($objFile, $LengthColumn)
Write-Output $Length

In a php file, I'm trying to save this output to a variable.

<?php
$var = shell_exec("powershell -File C:\my\path\to\psFile.ps1 2>&1");
echo "<pre>$var</pre>";
?>

The string output I get from shell_exec is the text you see when you start powershell from cmd. Windows PowerShell Copyright (C) 2016 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Any suggestions on how to extract the video duration?

Answer 1

Using your PS code

$Folder = 'C:\my\path\to\folder'
$File = 'sample1_1280_720.mp4'
$LengthColumn = 27
$objShell = New-Object -ComObject Shell.Application
$objFolder = $objShell.Namespace($Folder)
$objFile = $objFolder.ParseName($File)
$Length = $objFolder.GetDetailsOf($objFile, $LengthColumn)
$Length

I'm able to get the file length using PS -File and -Command. I added a few other flags you may want or need. You shouldn't need to use redirection 2>&1 to get your variable from PS to PHP. It is most likely the reason you are getting the logo.

function PowerShellCommand($Command)
{
    $unsanitized = sprintf('powershell.exe -NonInteractive -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command "%s"', $Command);

    return shell_exec($unsanitized);
}

function PowerShellFile($File)
{
    $unsanitized = sprintf('powershell.exe -NonInteractive -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "%s"', $File);

    return shell_exec($unsanitized);
}

// Can use relative paths
echo PowerShellCommand("./psFile.ps1");
// Be sure to escape Windows paths if needed
echo PowerShellFile("C:\\my\\path\\to\\folder\\psFile.ps1");

Returning $Length in all three ways work for me

$Length
return $Length
Write-Output $length