var_dump
(PHP 4, PHP 5)
var_dump — Dumps information about a variable
Description
This function displays structured information about one or more expressions that includes its type and value. Arrays and objects are explored recursively with values indented to show structure.
In PHP 5 all public, private and protected properties of objects will be returned in the output.
Tip
As with anything that outputs its result directly to the browser, the output-control functions can be used to capture the output of this function, and save it in a string (for example).
Parameters
- expression
-
The variable you want to export.
Return Values
No value is returned.
Examples
Example #1 var_dump() example
<?php
$a = array(1, 2, array("a", "b", "c"));
var_dump($a);
?>
The above example will output:
array(3) {
[0]=>
int(1)
[1]=>
int(2)
[2]=>
array(3) {
[0]=>
string(1) "a"
[1]=>
string(1) "b"
[2]=>
string(1) "c"
}
}
<?php
$b = 3.1;
$c = true;
var_dump($b, $c);
?>
The above example will output:
float(3.1) bool(true)
See Also
- var_export() - Outputs or returns a parsable string representation of a variable
- print_r() - Prints human-readable information about a variable