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var_export
Outputs or returns a parsable string representation of a variable
(PHP 4 >= 4.2.0, PHP 5)
mixed var_export ( mixed expression [, bool return] )
var_export() gets structured information about the given variable. It is similar to var_dump() with one exception: the returned representation is valid PHP code.
Parameters
- expression
The variable you want to export.
- return
If used and set to
TRUE, var_export() will return the variable representation instead of outputing it.Note:This function internally uses the output buffering with this parameter so it can not be used inside ob_start() callback function.
Return Values
Returns the variable representation when the return
parameter is used and evaluates to TRUE. Otherwise, this function will
return NULL.
ChangeLog
| Version | Description |
|---|---|
| 5.1.0 | Possibility to export classes and arrays containing classes using the __set_state magic method. |
Examples
Example 2605. var_export() Examples
<?php
$a = array (1, 2, array ("a", "b", "c"));
var_export($a);
?>The above example will output:
array (
0 => 1,
1 => 2,
2 =>
array (
0 => 'a',
1 => 'b',
2 => 'c',
),
)<?php
$b = 3.1;
$v = var_export($b, true);
echo $v;
?>The above example will output:
3.1
Example 2606. Exporting classes since PHP 5.1.0
<?php
class A { public $var; }
$a = new A;
$a->var = 5;
var_export($a);
?>The above example will output:
A::__set_state(array(
'var' => 5,
))
Example 2607. Using __set_state (since PHP 5.1.0)
<?php
class A
{
public $var1;
public $var2;
public static function __set_state($an_array)
{
$obj = new A;
$obj->var1 = $an_array['var1'];
$obj->var2 = $an_array['var2'];
return $obj;
}
}
$a = new A;
$a->var1 = 5;
$a->var2 = 'foo';
eval('$b = ' . var_export($a, true) . ';'); // $b = A::__set_state(array(
// 'var1' => 5,
// 'var2' => 'foo',
// ));
var_dump($b);
?>The above example will output:
object(A)#2 (2) {
["var1"]=>
int(5)
["var2"]=>
string(3) "foo"
}
Notes
Variables of type resource couldn't be exported by this function.
var_export() does not handle circular references as it would be close to impossible to generate parsable PHP code for that. If you want to do something with the full representation of an array or object, use serialize().
| print_r() |
| serialize() |
| var_dump() |