# escapeshellarg

(PHP 4 >= 4.0.3, PHP 5)

escapeshellarg — Escape a string to be used as a shell argument

### Description

string escapeshellarg ( string `$arg` )

escapeshellarg() adds single quotes around a string and quotes/escapes any existing single quotes allowing you to pass a string directly to a shell function and having it be treated as a single safe argument. This function should be used to escape individual arguments to shell functions coming from user input. The shell functions include exec(), system() and the backtick operator.

### Parameters

`arg`

  The argument that will be escaped.

### Return Values

The escaped string.

### Examples

Example#1 escapeshellarg() example

`<?php
system('ls '.escapeshellarg($dir));
?>`

### See Also

- escapeshellcmd()
- exec()
- popen()
- system()
- backtick operator