var_dump

(PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 7)

var_dump — Dumps information about a variable

Description

var_dump ( mixed $expression , mixed ...$expressions ) : void

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.

All public, private and protected properties of objects will be returned in the output unless the object implements a __debugInfo() method (implemented in PHP 5.6.0).

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 expression to dump.
expressions: Further expressions to dump.

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);

?>