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# escapeshellarg

(PHP 4 >= 4.0.3)

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. A standard use would be:

    system("ls ".escapeshellarg($dir));

See also exec(), popen(), system(), and the backtick operator.

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