title: passing URL variables to exec() with php
body: <p>I have a dedicated server that I use to crunch lots of data. The way I have it now, I can open a script with a process ID like <code>example.php?ex_pid=123</code> and just let it go. It downloads a small portion of data, processes it, then uploads it into a database then starts again.</p>
  
  <p>Ideally, I would like to call <code>example.php?ex_pid=123</code> directly and not by passing a variable to example.php like <code>exec('./example.php'.' '.EscapeShellArg($variable));</code> to keep it from acting globally.</p>
  
  <p>I don't care about the output, if it could execute in the background, that would be brilliant. The server is an Ubuntu distribution btw.</p>
  
  <p>Is this even possible? If so, any help and examples would be more then appreciated.</p>