Getting Artisan::call() output?

Have you tried returning the $output?

public function handle()
    {
        $exec_string = 'node public/js/generateBudgetDates.js';
        exec($exec_string, $output);
        return $output;
    }

yes - both return empty array []

@janareit use proc_open to get both stderr and stdout :

    // Setup the file descriptors
    $descriptors = [
        0 => ['pipe', 'w'],
        1 => ['pipe', 'w'],
        2 => ['pipe', 'w'],
    ];

    // Start the script
    $proc = proc_open($cmd, $descriptors, $pipes);

    // Read the stdin
    $stdin = stream_get_contents($pipes[0]);
    fclose($pipes[0]);

    // Read the stdout
    $stdout = stream_get_contents($pipes[1]);
    fclose($pipes[1]);

    // Read the stderr
    $stderr = stream_get_contents($pipes[2]);
    fclose($pipes[2]);

    // Close the script and get the return code
    $return_code = proc_close($proc);

Im a bit confused since you refer in your example to nodejs and not to an artisan command.

Anyways if you want to run an artisan command like php artisan help and receive the output, try this:

Route::get('/test', function()
{
    Artisan::call('help');
    dd(Artisan::output());
});

Im a bit confused since you refer in your example to nodejs and not to an artisan command.

@painis he wants to use execute in his artisan command

Update : oh or he is confusing artisan command and commands

@pmall Thanks! Your script worked:)

@painis Yes - I specificly want to execute this node script on my server side. This is due to fact that I found one node script library performing best with generating very flexibly recurring and various types of multi-pattern calendar events (http://bunkat.github.io/later/).

Thanks guys for helping out!

//Sample code to output inspire phrases instead of exit code
Route::get('/wisdom', function (Request $request) {
   Artisan::call('inspire');
   return Artisan::output();
});

@prince254 admire your enthusiasm for a 4 YEAR OLD THREAD

almost a decade