Looking for easy way to analyze var_dump (PHP) on large objects

Question

I know (PHP's) var_dump is supposed to be "human readable" and all, but analyzing large objects is just a pain in the neck. I am struggling to make sense of a few of the large objects that are being passed around in a script that we are running. (I know that using xdebug with and IDE is a good idea, but I have not been able to get xdebug to run on this project for some reason - several days lost, ugh).

Any ideas on how I can easily digest the contents of a really big var_dump? Any ideas are welcome... Although I am hoping that there is something similar to Thomas Frank's JSON tool (where you just put some code in and it gives a nice graphical representation).

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2141585/a-more-pretty-informative-var-dump-alternative-in-php/13597915#13597915 here is a similar post with a couple good suggestions — Alex Naspo, Nov 28 '12 at 05:08

score 13 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 19 '10 at 16:07

13

I'd just use dBug.

answered Mar 19 '10 at 16:07

Billy ONeal

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I was going to suggest dBug too. I include it in every project I make now, I can't imagine working without it. – Steven Mercatante Mar 19 '10 at 16:22
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Thanks for sharing this. dBug looks really nice var_dump replacement. I must say that FirePHP seems a little more convenient since it doesn't muck up the entire webpage you are trying to debug. Cheers! – shaune Mar 22 '10 at 15:21
portable and simple to use. Love this. Thank you – lazyPower Mar 12 '11 at 10:17

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 19 '10 at 16:13

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You could take a look at FirePHP. It enables you to write information to the firebug-console. If you write an array or object to the log and hover with your mouse over it, you get a nice presentation of the contents of that array. Here is a screenshot of a simple example.

answered Mar 19 '10 at 16:13

murze

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Looks like I already had FirePHP integrated in my project, so I used it. Very useful. It does exactly what I was looking for. – shaune Mar 22 '10 at 15:18

score 2 · Answer 3 · edited Aug 09 '19 at 15:38

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I made a var_dump alternative you should like:

http://raveren.github.io/kint/

Screenshot demonstrating content-aware features:

_{(source: github.io)}

edited Aug 09 '19 at 15:38

Glorfindel

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answered Mar 24 '11 at 18:27

raveren

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score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Mar 19 '10 at 16:05

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Interesting question. I'd make my own var_dump() equivalent based on some recursive function. With some parameters (such as nesting level, certain element name, etc) to pass it could be quite useful I think.

answered Mar 19 '10 at 16:05

Your Common Sense

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Looking for easy way to analyze var_dump (PHP) on large objects

4 Answers4