title: Alternate to PHP exec() function
body: <p>Currently I am using:</p>
  
  <pre><code>exec("zcat $filename", $output)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>To uncompress a <code>.Z</code> type file but unfortunately my hosting company has now disabled this function.</p>
  
  <p>Is there a workaround?</p>
  
  <pre><code>$pathtofile = "filename.lis.Z";
  exec("zcat $pathtofile", $output);
  </code></pre>