get value of a variable from a python script - php

Question

I have a python script that returns a json object. Say, for example i run the following:
exec('python /var/www/abc/abc.py');
and it returns a json object, how can i assign the json object as a variable in a php script.
Example python script:
#!/usr/bin/python
import sys
def main():
data = {"Fail": 35}
sys.stdout.write(str(data))
main()
Example PHP script:
<?php
exec("python /home/amyth/Projects/test/variable.py", $output, $v);
echo($output);
?>
The above returns an empty Array. Why so ?
I want to call the above script from php using the exec method and want to use the json object returned by the python script. How can i achieve this ?
Update:
The above works if i use another shell command, For Example:
<?php
exec("ls", $output, $v);
echo($output);
?>
Anyone knows the reason ?

Answer 1

If the idea is you'll have a Python script which prints JSON data to standard out, then you're probably looking for popen.
Something like...
<?php
$f = popen('python /var/www/abc/abc.py', 'r');
if ($f === false)
{
echo "popen failed";
exit 1;
}
$json = fgets($f);
fclose($f);
...will grab the output into the $json variable.
As for your example Python script, if the idea is you're trying to convert the Python dictionary {"tests": "35"} to JSON, and print to standard out, you need to change loads to dumps and return to print, so it looks like...
import simplejson
def main():
data = simplejson.dumps({"tests": "35"})
print data
main()