The difference between the system and shell_exec

Question

What is the difference between shell_exec and system methods in PHP?

Both take one command line argument and run this in PHP. Is it better to use one over the other?

Answer 1

You can lock a return code with the system. Already with shell_exec it is impossible.

Answer 2

See explanation here:

http://chipmunkninja.com/Program-Execution-in-PHP% 3A-exec-m@

Answer 3

I think the main difference is that PHP is running in safe mode. The system will work with some restriction, as described in the documentation, however shell_exec will be disabled.