Capture output of var_dump() as a string in PHP

This article demonstrates how to capture the output of var_dump() function as a string in PHP.

1. Using output buffering

You can capture the output of the var_dump() function to a string variable by turning on the output buffering. This can be done with the ob_start() function, which causes the output to be stored in an internal buffer. You can then copy the contents of the internal buffer to a string and discard the buffer contents. This is typically done using the ob_get_contents() and ob_end_clean() functions, respectively. Finally, you can print or save the contents of the string variable as needed. For example:

<?php

function vardump($data)

{

ob_start();

var_dump($data);

$output = ob_get_contents();

ob_end_clean();

return $output;

}

$person = array(

"Name" => "John", // String

"Age" => 32, // Integer

"Hired" => true, // Boolean

"Experience" => 10.5, // Float

"Degree" => array('BS', 'MS'), // Array

"Class" => new stdClass() // Object

);

$result = vardump($person);

echo $result;

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This results in below output:

array(6) { ["Name"]=> string(4) "John" ["Age"]=> int(32) ["Hired"]=> bool(true) ["Experience"]=> float(10.5) ["Degree"]=> array(2) { [0]=> string(2) "BS" [1]=> string(2) "MS" } ["Class"]=> object(stdClass)#1 (0) { } }

You can further simplify the code using the ob_get_clean() function, which gets the current buffer contents and deletes the current output buffer. In other words, ob_get_clean() invokes both ob_get_contents() and ob_end_clean(). Here’s the simplified version using ob_get_clean().

function vardump($data)

{

ob_start();

var_dump($data);

return ob_get_clean();

}

2. Using `var_export()` function

You may want to use the var_export() function over the var_dump() function. It is similar to the var_dump() function, but the output is valid PHP code. The default behavior of the var_export() function is to output the contents. To capture the string representation of a variable, you can set the return parameter to true, as shown below: