PHP dump variable as PHP code

Question

I'm looking for a function to dump a multi-dimension array so that the output is valid php code.

Suppose I have the following array:

$person = array();
$person['first'] = 'Joe';
$person['last'] = 'Smith';
$person['siblings'] = array('Jane' => 'sister', 'Dan' => 'brother', 'Paul' => 'brother');

Now I want to dump the $person variable so the the dump string output, if parsed, will be valid php code that redefines the $person variable.

So doing something like:

dump_as_php($person);

Will output:

$person = array(
    'first'    => 'Joe',
    'last'     => 'Smith',
    'siblings' => array(
        'Jane' => 'sister',
        'Dan'  => 'brother',
        'Paul' => 'brother'
    )
);

Why do you need this? If you're intending on eval ing it later, I would say "forget that, use JSON instead". — Anon.
– Anon., Commented Jan 10, 2010 at 22:47
I'm fetching some data from db and dumping it into dynamically created php files for faster future access to that data. — Orr Siloni
– Orr Siloni, Commented Jan 10, 2010 at 23:13
Isn't this what Caching is for? Have a look at php.net/manual/en/book.apc.php — Gordon
– Gordon, Commented Jan 10, 2010 at 23:38

Vinko Vrsalovic · Accepted Answer · 2010-01-10 22:49:38Z

6

var_export()

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.

answered Jan 10, 2010 at 22:49

Vinko Vrsalovic

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2 Comments

Orr Siloni Over a year ago

Thanks, This is exactly what I need. So simple. They thought of everything with the built-in functions :)

Dominic Barnes Over a year ago

I've never even heard of this before! Kudos!

Gordon · Accepted Answer · 2010-01-10 22:55:37Z

0

serialize and unserialize

This is useful for storing or passing PHP values around without losing their type and structure. In contrast to var_export this will handle circular references as well in case you want to dump large objects graphs.

The output will not be PHP code though.

edited Jan 10, 2010 at 22:55

answered Jan 10, 2010 at 22:48

Gordon

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