I have a system() query that output's ping info, how would I stop it from doing that?
system('ping -c1 -w1 '.$addr, $return);
use exec(), it doesn't output the result from the call. Or if you want the output in a string, shell_exec().
How about trying the backtick operator? http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.operators.execution.php
<?php
$output = `ls -al`;
echo "<pre>$output</pre>";
?>
This will output it into a string for you to do with as you see fit.