How to Print var_dump()
to the PHP Error Log
Debugging in PHP can sometimes be a challenge, especially when you want to print the result of var_dump()
to the error log using the error_log()
function. In this blog post, we will explore a handy code snippet that allows you to achieve just that.
To begin, let’s take a look at the code snippet:
1 | ob_start(); |
Let’s break it down:
- Using
ob_start()
, we start output buffering. This means that any output generated by subsequent code will be captured instead of being sent directly to the output. - Next, we use
var_dump($something)
to print the value of$something
to the output buffer. - We then use
ob_get_contents()
to retrieve the contents of the output buffer and assign it to the variable$contents
. - Finally, we clean the output buffer using
ob_end_clean()
to discard its contents and stop buffering. - Lastly, we use
error_log($contents)
to print the contents of the output buffer to the PHP error log.
By using this code snippet, you can conveniently redirect the output of var_dump()
to the PHP error log for better debugging.
Remember to remove or comment out this code once your debugging is complete, as leaving it enabled in a production environment may lead to performance issues.
Happy debugging!
Tags: PHP, debugging, error log, var_dump