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.


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