How to execute external shell commands from laravel controller?

If you're wanting to run commands from your PHP application I would recommend using the Symfony Process Component:

1. Run composer require symfony/process

2. Import the class in to your file with use Symfony\Component\Process\Process;

3. Execute your command:

   $process = new Process(['rm', '/var/www/html/test.html']);
   
   $process->run();
   

If you're using Laravel, you should be able to skip Step 1.

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Alternatively, (if the process running php has the correct permissions) you could simply use PHP's unlink() function to delete the file:

unlink('/var/www/html/test.html');
 

I would do this with what the framework already provide:

1) First generate a command class:

php artisan make:command TestClean

This will generate a command class in App\Console\Commands

Then inside the handle method of that command class write:

@unlink('/var/www/html/test.html');

Give your command a name and description and run:

php artisan list

Just to confirm your command is listed.

2) In your controller import Artisan facade.

use Artisan;

3) In your controller then write the following:

Artisan::call('test:clean');

Please refer to the docs for further uses: https://laravel.com/docs/5.7/artisan#generating-commands