How do I capture the result of an echo() into a variable in PHP?

Question

I'm using a PHP library that echoes a result rather than returns it. Is there an easy way to capture the output from echo/print and store it in a variable? (Other text has already been output, and output buffering is not being used.)

Answer 1

The only way I know.

ob_start();
echo "Some String";
$var = ob_get_clean();

Answer 2

You could use output buffering :

ob_start();

function test ($var) {
    echo $var;
}

test("hello");
$content = ob_get_clean();

var_dump($content); // string(5) "hello"

But it's not a clean and fun syntax to use. It may be a good idea to find a better library...

Answer 3

Its always good practise not to echo data until your application as fully completed, for example

<?php
echo 'Start';

session_start();
?>

now session_start along with another string of functions would not work as there's already been data outputted as the response, but by doing the following:

<?php
$output = 'Start';

session_start();

echo $output;
?>

This would work and its less error prone, but if its a must that you need to capture output then you would do:

ob_start();

//Whatever you want here

$data = ob_get_contents();

//Then we clean out that buffer with:
ob_end_clean();

Answer 4

You should really rewrite the class if you can. I doubt it would be that hard to find the echo/print statements and replace them with $output .=. Using ob_xxx does take resources.