how to execute task in phing given double and single quotes - php

Question

This is my command I wish to execute.
php -r "apc_clear_cache(); apc_clear_cache('user'); apc_clear_cache('opcode');"
This is my attempt in phing
<exec command='php -r "apc_clear_cache(); apc_clear_cache(\'user\'); apc_clear_cache(\'opcode\');"' outputProperty="result" />
This is what I get
BUILD FAILED
Error reading project file [wrapped: /var/virtual/abc.com/build.xml:171:26: > required]
Total time: 0.2093 seconds
Please advise.
Update:
I solved my problem by writing a bash script called RunApcClearCache.sh that runs
php -r "apc_clear_cache(); apc_clear_cache('user'); apc_clear_cache('opcode');"
and then calling the bash script using ./RunApcClearCache.sh
If there is a better way, I would like to hear it.
I am also disinclined to write a task just for something so straightforward. Surely there must be a way to escape double quotes properly inside a exectask.

Answer 1

Phing requires valid XML.
In valid XML you cannot use " directly inside an attribute.
You need to escape it / use its equivalent entity.
There are five predefined entities:
< represents "<"
> represents ">"
& represents "&"
&apos; represents '
" represents "
Try using the entities and not the characters.
So use " instead of " inside the command attribute...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XML#Escaping

Answer 2

Try this:
<exec command="php -r 'apc_clear_cache(); apc_clear_cache(\'user\'); apc_clear_cache(\'opcode\');'" outputProperty="result" />
not sure it works

Answer 3

i would create a new task and excute the php code there.
You can also write a new php file and execute this one with php.

Answer 4

I had the same problem. To avoid shell scripts I defined a adhoc task, which maps the corresponding framework functions, e.g.
<adhoc-task name="fileHelper"><![CDATA[
class FileHelper extends Task {
private $lib = null;
private $task = null;
private $stub = null;
function setTask($task) {
$this->task = $task;
}
function setStub($stub) {
$this->stub = $stub;
}
function setLib($lib) {
$this->lib = $lib;
}
function main() {
$task = $this->task;
$this->$task();
}
function generatePharStub() {
include_once $this->lib . '/FileHelper.php';
HTMLBuilder\FileHelper::generatePharStub($this->stub);
}
function generateIncludes() {
include_once $this->lib . '/FileHelper.php';
HTMLBuilder\FileHelper::generateIncludelist();
}
}
]]></adhoc-task>
Can be called the following way:
<fileHelper lib="${lib}" stub="${stub}" task="generateIncludes" />
In my case ${lib} points to the library directory. ${stub} is the generated phar stub file.