Making PHP var_dump() values display one line per value

Question

When I echo var_dump($_variable), I get one long, wrapping line with all varable's and values like

["kt_login_user"]=>  string(8) "teacher1" ["kt_login_id"]=>  string(3) "973" ["kt_campusID"]=>  string(4) "9088" ["kt_positionID"]=>  string(1) "5"

Is there a way I can make each value display on its own line for ease of reading? Something like this:

["kt_login_user"]=>  string(8) "teacher1" 
["kt_login_id"]=>  string(3) "973" 
["kt_campusID"]=>  string(4) "9088" 
["kt_positionID"]=>  string(1) "5"

Have you tried putting a `
` tag around your `var_dump()`?
– Amber Apr 12 '12 at 01:01 — Amber, Apr 12 '12 at 01:01

score 143 · Answer 1 · edited Jul 26 '23 at 17:47

143

Yes, try wrapping it with <pre>, e.g.:

echo '<pre>' , var_dump($variable) , '</pre>';

edited Jul 26 '23 at 17:47

Your Common Sense

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answered Apr 12 '12 at 01:01

phirschybar

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I tend to prefer print_r() though for arrays – phirschybar Apr 12 '12 at 01:07
1
Thanks, but I think maybe there is another way to do that, instead of using
```
 tag every time
```
– user1320318 Apr 12 '12 at 11:10
If there is another way? sure, you can use nl2br if you want, but why would that be better? – Nanne Jul 09 '12 at 12:52

Dave · Answer 2 · 2014-05-12T23:13:42.747

42

I usually have a nice function to handle output of an array, just to pretty it up a bit when debugging.

function pr($data)
{
    echo "<pre>";
    print_r($data); // or var_dump($data);
    echo "</pre>";
}

Then just call it

pr($array);

Or if you have an editor like that saves snippets so you can access them quicker instead of creating a function for each project you build or each page that requires just a quick test.

For print_r:

echo "<pre>", print_r($data, 1), "</pre>";

For var_dump():

echo "<pre>", var_dump($data), "</pre>";

I use the above with PHP Storm. I have set it as a pr tab command.

edited May 12 '14 at 23:13

answered Apr 12 '12 at 01:11

Dave

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Hint: code in `pr()` can be further simplified to this: `echo '
```
' . print_r($data, true) . '
```
';`
– Christian Jul 23 '16 at 20:16

score 16 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 04 '14 at 22:09

16

I've also researched this issue and not found the right answer. This doesn't work for me:

echo '<pre>' . var_dump($variable) . '</pre>';

This will not provide a nice display of the array for me, with line breaks (I'm using Firefox 31.3.0)

However, after some experimentation, this solved the problem (notice the php is closed at first):

... ?> <pre><?php echo var_dump($variable) ?></pre> <?php ...

This solves the problem and displays a nice, easy-to-read array for me on my browser. You see how the tags are not wrapped in PHP; only the echo var_dump part is.

answered Dec 04 '14 at 22:09

Mark

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Tip: next time, [read the manual](http://php.net/manual/en/function.var-dump.php). `var_dump` never returns the dumped value, this is why your second example worked... but still you don't need to do `echo var_dump..`... this will also works: `echo '
```
';
var_dump($variable);
echo '
```
';` or this: `
`
– Christian Jul 23 '16 at 20:14
It didn't work because you used periods instead of commas. – CChoma Oct 15 '21 at 12:20

score 14 · Answer 4 · edited Aug 01 '16 at 12:44

If you got XDebug installed, you can use it's var_dump replacement. Quoting:

Xdebug replaces PHP's var_dump() function for displaying variables. Xdebug's version includes different colors for different types and places limits on the amount of array elements/object properties, maximum depth and string lengths. There are a few other functions dealing with variable display as well.

You will likely want to tweak a few of the following settings:

There is a number of settings that control the output of Xdebug's modified var_dump() function: xdebug.var_display_max_children, xdebug.var_display_max_data and xdebug.var_display_max_depth. The effect of these three settings is best shown with an example. The script below is run four time, each time with different settings. You can use the tabs to see the difference.

But keep in mind that XDebug will significantly slow down your code, even when it's just loaded. It's not advisable to run in on production servers. But hey, you are not var_dumping on production servers anyway, are you?

it worked, In new update it was turned off. but it only shows a limited depth of array now. — Towhid, Dec 25 '12 at 14:30
@Towhid http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9998490/how-to-get-xdebug-var-dump-to-show-full-object-array :) — dm03514, Jun 02 '15 at 17:55

score 11 · Answer 5 · edited Jul 23 '16 at 20:10

11

var_export will give you a nice output. Examples from the docs:

$a = array (1, 2, array ("a", "b", "c"));
echo '<pre>' . var_export($a, true) . '</pre>';

Will output:

array (
  0 => 1,
  1 => 2,
  2 => 
  array (
    0 => 'a',
    1 => 'b',
    2 => 'c',
  ),
)

edited Jul 23 '16 at 20:10

Christian

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answered Feb 04 '16 at 10:00

Tieme

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This works only when 2nd parameter is `true`. I've updated answer to reflect this. – Christian Jul 23 '16 at 20:10
Very nice! Thank you! – d8ta Jun 20 '17 at 12:07
1

This worked fine, all other suggestion didn't worked for me. Thanks a lot. – Joshi Mar 30 '18 at 08:22

score 10 · Answer 6 · edited Jul 23 '16 at 20:17

10

For me the right answer was

echo '<pre>' . var_export($var, true) . '</pre>';

Since var_dump($var) and var_export($var) do not return a string, you have to use var_export($var, true) to force var_export to return the result as a value.

edited Jul 23 '16 at 20:17

Christian

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answered Jun 10 '16 at 13:41

Humberto Castañeda

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this was already given as answer a few months ago, so no need to add it. doesnt make the page more useful. upvote the existing answer instead. – Gordon Aug 01 '16 at 12:28

score 7 · Answer 7 · edited Aug 01 '16 at 12:45

7

Use output buffers: http://php.net/manual/de/function.ob-start.php

<?php
    ob_start();
    var_dump($_SERVER) ;
    $dump = ob_get_contents();
    ob_end_clean();

    echo "<pre> $dump </pre>";
?>

Yet another option would be to use Output buffering and convert all the newlines in the dump to <br> elements, e.g.

ob_start();
var_dump($_SERVER) ;
echo nl2br(ob_get_clean());

edited Aug 01 '16 at 12:45

Gordon

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answered Aug 05 '15 at 08:48

Aroddo

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Tip: instead of `$dump = ob_get_contents(); ob_end_clean();`, you can simply do this: `$dump = ob_get_clean();` – Christian Jul 23 '16 at 20:11
Instead of wrapping it in pre elements, you could also just `echo nl2br($dump)` – Gordon Aug 01 '16 at 12:27

score 7 · Answer 8 · edited Feb 15 '16 at 14:55

7

You can press Ctrl+U to view the source code. Most Browsers will prettify the output there.

var_dump is the ugliest way to debug.

edited Feb 15 '16 at 14:55

Paul Roub

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answered Feb 15 '16 at 14:44

Stephan Weinhold

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score 4 · Answer 9 · answered Apr 05 '18 at 21:03

Personally I like the replacement function provided by Symfony's var dumper component

Install with composer require symfony/var-dumper and just use dump($var)

It takes care of the rest. I believe there's also a bit of JS injected there to allow you to interact with the output a bit.

score 1 · Answer 10 · answered Sep 28 '17 at 00:18

For devs needing something that works in the view source and the CLI, especially useful when debugging unit tests.

echo vd([['foo'=>1, 'bar'=>2]]);

function vd($in) {
  ob_start(); 
  var_dump($in);
  return "\n" . preg_replace("/=>[\r\n\s]+/", "=> ", ob_get_clean());
}

Yields:

array(1) {
  [0] => array(2) {
    'foo' => int(1)
    'bar' => int(2)
  }
}

score 1 · Answer 11 · answered Oct 26 '17 at 11:59

I did a similar solution. I've created a snippet to replace 'vardump' with this:

foreach ($variable as $key => $reg) {
    echo "<pre>{$key} => '{$reg}'</pre>";
}
var_dump($variable);die;

Ps: I'm repeating the data with the last var_dump to get the filename and line

So this: Became this:

Let me know if this will help you.

score 0 · Answer 12 · answered Apr 12 '12 at 01:01

0

Wrap it in <pre> tags to preserve formatting.

answered Apr 12 '12 at 01:01

SenorAmor

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score 0 · Answer 13 · answered Jun 28 '17 at 11:46

0

I really love var_export(). If you like copy/paste-able code, try:

echo '<pre>' . var_export($data, true) . '</pre>';

Or even something like this for color syntax highlighting:

highlight_string("<?php\n\$data =\n" . var_export($data, true) . ";\n?>");

answered Jun 28 '17 at 11:46

Roshimon

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That `highlight_string` trick is one of the easiest ways of making `var_export` readable that I know. Deserves more upvotes! – Ben Hillier Oct 04 '17 at 08:04
A full copy paste of this answer: https://stackoverflow.com/a/19816742/327862 Very Lame! – Mukesh Chapagain Apr 23 '18 at 13:15

Lucio Mollinedo · Answer 14 · 2017-11-30T18:51:13.940

0

I didn't wanna stop using var_dump($variable);die(); and using pre tags and loops seems overkill to me, so since I am looking at the dump in a browser, I just right click the page and choose Inspect (I use Chrome). The Elements section of the Developer Tools show the variable in a very readable format.

edited Nov 30 '17 at 18:51

answered Nov 29 '17 at 21:38

Lucio Mollinedo

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Making PHP var_dump() values display one line per value

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