<?php class cat { public function show_output($prepend, $output = '') { } } $cat = new cat(); $cat->show_output('Files: ', trim(`cd .`)); // this gives invalid args to shell_exec $cat->show_output('Files: ', `cd .`); // this causes a segmentation fault $cat->show_output(`cd .`); // this causes a segmentation fault function show_outputa($prepend, $output) { echo "Okey"; } show_outputa('Files: ', `cd .`); // this works as expected