test.php:

Copy<?php
print_r($argv);
?>

Shell:

Copy$ php -q test.php foo bar
Array
(
    [0] => test.php
    [1] => foo
    [2] => bar
)

Script:

<?php

// number of arguments passed to the script
var_dump($argc);

// the arguments as an array. first argument is always the script name
var_dump($argv);

Command:

$ php -f test.php foo bar baz
int(4)
array(4) {
  [0]=>
  string(8) "test.php"
  [1]=>
  string(3) "foo"
  [2]=>
  string(3) "bar"
  [3]=>
  string(3) "baz"
}

Also, take a look at using PHP from the command line.

Passing parameters to a shell script from PHP.

Its all about the "strings", and when to "double quote" for expansion.

<?php

/* exec("/csvexport.sh $table"); */

/* double quote here because you want PHP to expand $table */
/* Escape double quotes so they are passed to the shell because you do not wnat the shell to choke on spaces */
$command_with_parameters = "/path/csvexport.sh \"${table}\"";
$output_from_command = "";
$command_success = "";

/* double quote here because you want PHP to expand $command_with_parameters, a string */
exec("${command_with_parameters}", $output_from_command, $command_success);

/* or to keep it simple */
exec("/path/csvexport.sh \"${table}\"");


/* show me what you got */
echo"${command_success}\n${output_from_command}\n";

?>

BTW: I did not test this snippet.

Send $argv of serv.php from serv.php to update.php (see http://php.net/manual/en/reserved.variables.argv.php). I.e. in update.php you will have another $argv, so you have to send list of command line parameters in array with different name.

You can run php -- arguments

e.g.

#!/bin/sh

S='<?php
printf("You entered %s\n",$argv[1]);
?>'

echo $S | php -- hello

will return the output

You entered hello

Which PHP binary are you using? The CLI or CGI? I suspect you need a CGI version of the binary for PHP to properly handle accept the environment variables and POST data if you pass that.

The php-cgi binary implements the CGI interface, which allows you to pass parameters on the command line:

php-cgi -f index.php left=1058 right=1067 class=A language=English

Which end up in $_GET:

Array
(
    [left] => 1058
    [right] => 1067
    [class] => A
    [language] => English
)

You may want to read up on how CGI works so you can implement that in your web server.

Ref: RFC3875

You are not grabbing the output from that command. That's why you see nothing although the command was executed. There are several ways how to do that. This are the most common:

// test.php
<?php
    $value = 123;
    // will output redirect directly to stdout
    passthru("php -f test1.php $value");

    // these functions return the outpout
    echo shell_exec("php -f test1.php $value");
    echo `php -f test1.php $value`;
    echo system("php -f test1.php $value");

    // get output and return var into variables
    exec("php -f test1.php $value", $output, $return);
    echo $output;
?>

Presumably you're passing the arguments in on the command line as follows:

php /path/to/wwwpublic/path/to/script.php arg1 arg2

... and then accessing them in the script thusly:

<?php
// $argv[0] is '/path/to/wwwpublic/path/to/script.php'
$argument1 = $argv[1];
$argument2 = $argv[2];
?>

What you need to be doing when passing arguments through HTTP (accessing the script over the web) is using the query string and access them through the $_GET superglobal:

Go to http://yourdomain.example/path/to/script.php?argument1=arg1&argument2=arg2

... and access:

<?php
$argument1 = $_GET['argument1'];
$argument2 = $_GET['argument2'];
?>

If you want the script to run regardless of where you call it from (command line or from the browser) you'll want something like the following:

as pointed out by Cthulhu in the comments, the most direct way to test which environment you're executing in is to use the PHP_SAPI constant. I've updated the code accordingly:

<?php
if (PHP_SAPI === 'cli') {
    $argument1 = $argv[1];
    $argument2 = $argv[2];
}
else {
    $argument1 = $_GET['argument1'];
    $argument2 = $_GET['argument2'];
}
?>