Expect Functions
PHP Manual

expect_expectl

Waits until the output from a process matches one of the patterns, a specified time period has passed, or an EOF is seen

Description

int expect_expectl ( resource $expect , array $cases [, array &$match ] )

Waits until the output from a process matches one of the patterns, a specified time period has passed, or an EOF is seen.

If match is provided, then it is filled with the result of search. The matched string can be found in match[0]. The match substrings (according to the parentheses) in the original pattern can be found in match[1], match[2], and so on, up to match[9] (the limitation of libexpect).

Parameters

expect

An Expect stream, previously opened with expect_popen.

cases

An array of expect cases. Each expect case is an indexed array, as described in the following table:

Expect Case Array
Index Key Value Type Description Is Mandatory Default Value
0 string pattern, that will be matched against the output from the stream yes  
1 mixed value, that will be returned by this function, if the pattern matches yes  
2 integer pattern type, one of: EXP_GLOB, EXP_EXACT or EXP_REGEXP no EXP_GLOB

Return Values

Returns value associated with the pattern that was matched.

On failure this function returns: EXP_EOF, EXP_TIMEOUT or EXP_FULLBUFFER

Changelog

Version Description
0.2.1 Prior to version 0.2.1, in match parameter a match string was returned, not an array of match substrings.

Examples

Example #1 expect_expectl example

<?php
// Copies file from remote host:
ini_set("expect.timeout", 30);

$stream = fopen("expect://scp user@remotehost:/var/log/messages /home/user/messages.txt", "r");

$cases = array(
    // array(pattern, value to return if pattern matched)
    array("password:", "asked for password"),
    array("yes/no)?",  "asked for yes/no")
);

while (true) {
    switch (expect_expectl($stream, $cases)) {
        case "asked for password":
            fwrite($stream, "my password\n");
            break;
        case "asked for yes/no":
            fwrite($stream, "yes\n");
            break;
        case EXP_TIMEOUT:
        case EXP_EOF:
            break 2; // break both the switch statement and the while loop
        default:
            die "Error has occurred!";
    }
}

fclose($stream);
?>

See Also

  • expect_popen