var_dump

(PHP 4, PHP 5)

var_dumpDumps information about a variable

Description

void var_dump ( mixed $expression [, mixed $... ] )

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 dump.

Return Values

No value is returned.

Examples

Example #1 var_dump() example

<?php
$a 
= array(12, array("a""b""c"));
var_dump($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