Parse error: syntax error, unexpected 'image' (T_STRING) in eval line - eval

Question

I`m trying to create a page that read the metadata of an image and allow user to edit it and save it to the same image.
After searching the internet I have found exiftool as the solution but I can make it work only as a command line not as a library in the page.
I have this code:
eval('$metadata=' . exiftool.exe -php -q $imagePath);
foreach ($metadata[0] as $key => $value) {
if ($metadata[0][$key]!=$_POST[$key]){
if ($_POST[$key]=="") $_POST[$key]=" "; //if metadata is not set, than create an empty metadata
eval('$metadata=' . exiftool.exe "-$key=$_POST[$key]" $imagePath);
}
}
and I`m getting this error:
Parse error: syntax error, unexpected 'image' (T_STRING) in E:\xampp\htdocs\imgdata\index.php(30) : eval()'d code on line 1
I tried to replace the ` with other like " and ' but no luck.
What do I miss?
Any better idea on how to do it?
Thanks

Answer 1

I had the same problem, but using Centos OS, and found a solution here:
'command not found' error when using subprocess in apache
Might not work for Windows but worth a look. Basically the answer suggests specifying the full exiftool path rather than simply exiftool.exe.
If that doesn't help then have a look for errors in the Apache Error Log File.