PHP exec（）mysqldump转义双短划线选项

Question

I use MySQL Dump for nightly backups. The time has come to stop the unsafe practice of using password on the command line. Here is what I have that works:

exec('mysqldump -uuser -ppass '.$database.' > '.$filepath.');

Now using mysql_config_editor I've set a login path:

mysql_config_editor set --login-path=name --host=localhost -user=uname --password

And the following works when executing manually by mysql direct on the command line:

mysqldump --login-path=name '.$database.' > '.$filepath

But, not via the exec function. The reason is the double -- on the login path option. What makes it hard is that default MySQL has shorthand option for this -G, but mysqldump doesn't!!!

Double dash fails because it's widely used for other things on bash UNIX command prompt. Does anyone know how to get it to work with double --, or a different workaround?