VBScript Lunch Program Using Shell Execute

VBScript is a scripting language to manage computer developed by Microsoft. Below is a code snippet to open an external program using Shell Application.

Dim objShell

Program_Name = "Notepad.exe"
Arguments = "" 'Optional
Directory = "" 'Optional
Operation = "open" 'open,edit,find,print,properties
Show_Option = 1 

Set objShell = CreateObject("Shell.Application")
objShell.ShellExecute Program_Name, Arguments, Directory, Operation, Show_Option

Set objShell = Nothing

'0 = Open the application with a hidden window.
'1 = Open the application with a normal window. If the window is minimized or maximized, the system restores it to its original size and position.
'2 = Open the application with a minimized window.
'3 = Open the application with a maximized window.
'4 = Open the application with its window at its most recent size and position. The active window remains active.
'5 = Open the application with its window at its current size and position.
'7 = Open the application with a minimized window. The active window remains active.
'10 = Open the application with its window in the default state specified by the application.

Call and store response from a url using bash script

#!/bin/bash

## generate random string of length 18
function randpass
{
        echo `</dev/urandom tr -dc A-Za-z0-9 | head -c18`
}

## get current time stamp
timestamp=$(date  +%s);
sessionId="$(randpass).$(randpass).$timestamp";
privateKey='test';
 
## get substring of sessionId from 0 to 5 characters.
sessionIdPart=${sessionId:0:5};
systemKeyPart=${privateKey:0:4};

## reverse string and store in a variable
word="$(echo "$sessionIdPart" | rev)$(echo "$systemKeyPart" | rev)";
word="$word$sessionId$privateKey";
 
## make a string md5
hash=`echo -n "$word" | md5sum | awk '{print $1}'`;
hash=${hash:0:10};
breakRest="securedSessionKey=$sessionId&securedHash=$hash";
 
saveFile=$(date +"%Y-%m-%d %T"); 
## saveFile would be '2013-08-25 19:23:28'

## calling a url using 'curl' and store response to some file.
curl -s -L -o "$saveFile.html" "http://domain.com/getStudent?$breakRest" &
## "&" sign at the end means run curl in background.

exit 1;

Execute shell commands in PHP

/**
Method to execute a command in the terminal
Uses :

1. system
2. passthru
3. exec
4. shell_exec

 */
function terminal($command)
{
    //system
    if (function_exists('system')) {
        ob_start();
        system($command, $return_var);
        $output = ob_get_contents();
        ob_end_clean();
    } //passthru
    else if (function_exists('passthru')) {
        ob_start();
        passthru($command, $return_var);
        $output = ob_get_contents();
        ob_end_clean();
    } //exec
    else if (function_exists('exec')) {
        exec($command, $output, $return_var);
        $output = implode("\n", $output);
    } //shell_exec
    else if (function_exists('shell_exec')) {
        $output = shell_exec($command);
    } else {
        $output = 'Command execution not possible on this system';
        $return_var = 1;
    }

    return array('output' => $output, 'status' => $return_var);
}

Use as this way:
$o = terminal('ls');
print_r($o);

http://www.binarytides.com/execute-shell-commands-php/