Replace backticks based with shell_exec() function calls
-$output = `ls -al`;
+$output = shell_exec('ls -al');
echo "<pre>$output</pre>";
Configure your rector.php:
<?php
use Rector\Config\RectorConfig;
use Rector\Php85\Rector\ShellExec\ShellExecFunctionCallOverBackticksRector;
return RectorConfig::configure()
->withRules([
ShellExecFunctionCallOverBackticksRector::class,
]);