You can use proc_open and related functions for that.
$descriptorSpec = [
0 => ['pipe', 'r'], // stdin
1 => ['pipe', 'w'], // stdout
2 => ['pipe', 'w'], // stderr
];
$process = proc_open($cmd, $descriptorSpec, $pipes);
if (!is_resource($process)) {
throw new Exception('Unable to start shell process.');
}
$out = stream_get_contents($pipes[1]);
fclose($pipes[1]);
$error = stream_get_contents($pipes[2]);
fclose($pipes[2]);
$status = proc_close($process);
if ($status !== 0) {
throw new Exception('Command ' . $cmd . ' returned code ' . $status . '. Output: ' . $error);
}
If you want to use a output from the first command, pass one of resulting pipes to stdin descriptor of the other command:
$descriptorSpec = [
0 => $pipes[1], // stdin
1 => ['pipe', 'w'], // stdout
2 => ['pipe', 'w'], // stderr
];
If you want to redirect one of descriptors to a file, just provide a resource you get from fopen():
$res = fopen('file.log', 'w+');
$descriptorSpec = [
0 => ['pipe', 'r'], // stdin
1 => $res, // stdout
2 => $res, // stderr
];