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# escapeshellarg

(PHP 4 >= 4.0.3, PHP 5)

escapeshellarg -- Escape a string to be used as a shell argument

## Description

string escapeshellarg ( string arg )

escapeshellarg() adds single quotes around a string and quotes/escapes any existing single quotes allowing you to pass a string directly to a shell function and having it be treated as a single safe argument. This function should be used to escape individual arguments to shell functions coming from user input. The shell functions include exec(), system() and the backtick operator.

## Parameters

arg

  The argument that will be escaped.

## Return Values

The escaped string.

## Examples

Example 1. escapeshellarg() example

`<?php system('ls '.escapeshellarg($dir)); ?>`

## See Also

escapeshellcmd()
exec()
popen()
system()
backtick operator

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