Pass variable data from PHP to shell_exec command - php

Question

I have a script that clones tables on to uniquely named MySQL databases from a master sql dump file . Each account has their own database, but the table structure is the same for all accounts. My solution was to dump the master database table and then through PHP shell_exec, run the MySQL controller cmd (mysql) to populate the newly created database with default tables.
At Issue: The process works but only when I hard code the accounts unique database name in the master sql dump file.
However, "USE acct_dbID" line inside the master sql file needs to be dynamically set at runtime.
Here is the code:
include('.dbase_credentials'); //constants for connection object
//using PHP built in connection class mysqli
$mysqli = new mysqli(DB_HOST,DB_UNAME,DB_UPWORD,DB_NAME);
if ($mysqli->connect_errno){
echo "Failed to open database connection: ".$mysqli->connect_error;
exit();
}
$dbID=$varNum; //variable, number ID generated earlier in the account setup process
//create database, doesnt return a resultset, no need for object var here
if ($mysqli->query("CREATE DATABASE acct_".$dbID) === TRUE){
//if dbase was created, clone the tables
$res = shell_exec('mysql -u dbaseUser --password=`cat /path/to/pass` -e "source /path/to/master_tables.sql" acct_'.$dbID);
//provide some UI feedback, shell_exec returns null on failure
if ($res!=null){
echo "The tables were cloned!";
}else{
echo "The cloning process failed!";
}
}else{
echo "no database created.";
}
So again, master_tables.sql needs variable data passed it at runtime so the "USE acct_dbID" can be specific to each new account.
Any thoughts are appreciated.
rwhite35

Answer 1

knittl had the right direction for what I need to do. See the comment conversation above. Thanks knittl.
Here is the new code block using multi_query and file_get_contents.
if ($mysqli->query("CREATE DATABASE acct_".$dbID) === TRUE){
$acct="acct_".$dbID;
$query = "USE ".$acct.";";
$query .= file_get_contents('/path/to/master_table.sql');
$result=$mysqli->multi_query($query);
}
Now account can be variable and multi_query will run each query statement in the string. I probably lose some efficiency but gain the ability to clone tables for each new account. The only additional edit made was to the master_table.sql. I removed all the comments that the dump process adds.
Thanks,
rwhite35