PHP functions to execute a script in background?

Question

I have bunch of PHP Scripts that require execution on press of a button in an HTML web page. I have browsed through various PHP functions which could do that, however I am confused as to which of these functions listed on PHP Manual will work best in my situation.

http://www.php.net/manual/en/ref.exec.php

In total there are following four buttons on a single web page linking to their respective scripts.

1. Archive ==> archive.php // takes few minutes.
2. Download ==> download.php // takes 3 to 6 hours.
3. Format ==> format.php // takes few seconds.
4. Update ==> update.php // takes few minutes

Also, which of these functions are cross platform?

Answer 1

I am using 'system', and it works correctly.

$last_line = system('ls', $retval);
    echo "<br>";
    echo "the last line of the output: ". $last_line;
    echo "<br>";
    echo "Return value: ".$retval;

Just replace 'ls' with your command, like "php text.php".

Good luck.