Checking exec() runs successfully or not

According to PHP's exec quickref, you can pass pointers in to get the output and status of the command.

<?php
exec('C://abc//wkhtmltopdf home.html sample.pdf', $output, $return);

// Return will return non-zero upon an error
if (!$return) {
    echo "PDF Created Successfully";
} else {
    echo "PDF not created";
}
?>

If you want to enumerate the possible errors, you can find the codes over at hiteksoftware

A simple sample:

$ip = "192.168.0.2";
$exec = exec( "ping -c 3 -s 64 -t 64 ".$ip, $output, $return );
echo $exec;
echo "<br />----------------<br />";
print_r( $output );
echo "<br />----------------<br />";
print_r( $return );

In case of not ping or ERROR. ( ONE )

----------------
Array ( [0] => PING 192.168.0.2 (192.168.0.2) 64(92) bytes of data. [1] => [2] => --- 192.168.0.2 ping statistics --- [3] => 3 packets transmitted, 0 received, 100% packet loss, time 2016ms [4] => )
----------------
1

In case of success ( ZERO )

rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 4.727/18.262/35.896/13.050 ms
----------------
Array ( [0] => PING 192.168.0.2 (192.168.0.2) 64(92) bytes of data. [1] => 72 bytes from 192.168.0.2: icmp_req=1 ttl=63 time=14.1 ms [2] => 72 bytes from 192.168.0.2: icmp_req=2 ttl=63 time=35.8 ms [3] => 72 bytes from 192.168.0.2: icmp_req=3 ttl=63 time=4.72 ms [4] => [5] => --- 192.168.0.2 ping statistics --- [6] => 3 packets transmitted, 3 received, 0% packet loss, time 2003ms [7] => rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 4.727/18.262/35.896/13.050 ms )
----------------
0

The correct way is to check that the $return_var was not set to zero because it is only set to zero when it is successful. In certain cases the exec can fail and the return_var is not set to anything. E.g. if the server ran out of disk space during the exec.

<?php
exec('C://abc//wkhtmltopdf home.html sample.pdf', $output, $return_var);
if($return_var !== 0){ // exec is successful only if the $return_var was set to 0. !== means equal and identical, that is it is an integer and it also is zero.
    echo "PDF not created";
}
else{
    echo "PDF Created Successfully";
}

?>

Note : do not initialize $return_var to zero