PHP Output buffering on the command line

Question

I have a PHP script that I want to run on the command line. This script, among other things, needs to load a PHP file that contains both PHP and HTML content and get the rendered output from that file.

This code does exactly what I need, but not when run from the command line:

<?php

// ...
if(file_exists($content_file)) {
  ob_start();
  include($content_file);
  $content = ob_get_contents();
  ob_end_clean();
}

?>

When run in the browser, my script gets the rendered output of the PHP file via include(), and stores the output in $content.

However, when I execute this script on the command line, the contents of the PHP file are echoed out, and $content never gets set.

I've searched the documentation, but nothing seems to work. Calling ini_set('implicit_flush', false) has no effect, nor does ob_implicit_flush(0);

Any thoughts?

Try to surpress errors by adding a @ before the include: @include($content_file); — Raisen
– Raisen, Commented Apr 5, 2011 at 18:32
@Raisen, there are no errors here, and using the @ error silencing operator is generally considered to be a bad practice. — Charles
– Charles, Commented Apr 5, 2011 at 18:34
Can you include the command you're using to call the script? I know it's a long shot, but that may affect your output. — eykanal
– eykanal, Commented Apr 5, 2011 at 18:36
From the unlikely-but-possible-error-dept.: try ob_start(NULL,0) and also ensure that no ob_flush() exists in your include file. — mario
– mario, Commented Apr 5, 2011 at 18:40

Charles · Accepted Answer · 2011-04-05 18:30:39Z

1

I am unable to duplicate this problem using PHP 5.3.

[charles@lobotomy ~]$ cat includeme.php
<?php

echo "Oh hi!\n";
?>
I am an include!

[charles@lobotomy ~]$ cat includehim.php
<?php

$content_file = './includeme.php';

if(file_exists($content_file)) {
  ob_start();
  include($content_file);
  $content = ob_get_contents();
  ob_end_clean();
}
[charles@lobotomy ~]$ php includehim.php
[charles@lobotomy ~]$

And at the interactive prompt:

[charles@lobotomy ~]$ php -a
Interactive shell

php > $content_file = './includeme.php';
php > if(file_exists($content_file)) {
php {   ob_start();
php {   include($content_file);
php {   $content = ob_get_contents();
php {   ob_end_clean();
php { }
php >
php > echo $content;
Oh hi!
I am an include!

php > exit;

answered Apr 5, 2011 at 18:30

Charles

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3 Comments

mark Over a year ago

I have exactly the same problem using PHP5.3 - CakePHP2.0 and Shells seem to ignore the ob_start() etc. Maybe because the shell is running on a CLI level or so? In my case I want to catch the result of "system('dos2unix -h', $x);" but it always prints it right out...

Charles Over a year ago

@mark, you probably want to use exec or proc_open instead of system. system intentionally screws with the output buffer.

mark Over a year ago

thx. I also used exec without success. the strange thing is: exec('svn/git') works. the output is not flushed but returned properly. proc_open i have never heard of. will give it a try!

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