phpdevcommunity/php-vardumper

A lightweight and versatile PHP library for debugging and inspecting variables with customizable output formats.

1.0.0 2025-01-17 09:49 UTC

Requires

• php: >=7.4
• ext-json: *

Requires (Dev)

• phpdevcommunity/unitester: ^0.1.0@alpha

MIT

• F. Michel

README

A lightweight and versatile PHP library for debugging and inspecting variables with customizable output formats.

Installation

You can install this library via Composer. Ensure your project meets the minimum PHP version requirement of 7.4.

composer require phpdevcommunity/php-vardumper

Requirements

• PHP version 7.4 or higher

Usage

The library provides two main functions for debugging: dump() and dd(). These functions allow you to inspect variables in a readable format, with support for both CLI and HTML output.

dump() Function

The dump() function outputs the variable(s) passed to it without terminating the script. This is useful for inspecting variables during the execution of your code.

<?php

require 'vendor/autoload.php';

$data = [
    'name' => 'John Doe',
    'age' => 30,
    'email' => '[e-mail]'
];

dump($data);

dd() Function

The dd() function (short for "dump and die") outputs the variable(s) passed to it and then terminates the script. This is useful for debugging and inspecting variables at a specific point in your code.

<?php

require 'vendor/autoload.php';

$data = [
    'name' => 'John Doe',
    'age' => 30,
    'email' => '[e-mail]'
];

dd($data);

Output Formats

The library automatically detects the environment (CLI or web) and formats the output accordingly. You can also manually specify the output format if needed.

CLI Output

When running in a CLI environment, the output is formatted for readability in the terminal.

<?php

require 'vendor/autoload.php';

$data = [
    'name' => 'John Doe',
    'age' => 30,
    'email' => '[e-mail]'
];

dump($data);

CLI Output Example:

Array
(
    [name] => John Doe
    [age] => 30
    [email] => [e-mail]
)

HTML Output

When running in a web environment, the output is formatted with HTML for better readability in the browser.

<?php

require 'vendor/autoload.php';

$data = [
    'name' => 'John Doe',
    'age' => 30,
    'email' => '[e-mail]'
];

dump($data);

HTML Output Example:

<div id="var_dump_7426e40db5b46be3c13051ff19d2eff0" class="__beautify-var-dumper">
    <span class="type caret caret-down" data-target="#target_0fa6bec56ef91af4269ff3ac1ec702e4">array</span> 
    <small><i>(Size: 3)</i></small> (
    <br>
    <div class="nested active" id="target_0fa6bec56ef91af4269ff3ac1ec702e4">
        <span class="key">name</span> =&gt; 
        <span class="string">
            <span class="type">string</span> 'John Doe'
        </span> 
        <small><i>(Lenght: 8)</i></small>
        <br>
        <span class="key">age</span> =&gt; 
        <span class="number">
            <span class="type">int</span> 30
        </span>
        <br>
        <span class="key">email</span> =&gt; 
        <span class="string">
            <span class="type">string</span> '[e-mail]'
        </span> 
        <small><i>(Lenght: 20)</i></small>
        <br>)
    </div>
</div>

Custom Output

You can also customize the output by passing a custom OutputInterface implementation to the VarDumper constructor.

<?php

require 'vendor/autoload.php';

use PhpDevCommunity\Debug\VarDumper;
use PhpDevCommunity\Debug\Output\OutputInterface;

class CustomOutput implements OutputInterface
{
    public function print($data): void
    {
        // Custom output logic here
        echo "Custom Output: " . print_r($data, true);
    }
}

$data = [
    'name' => 'John Doe',
    'age' => 30,
    'email' => '[e-mail]'
];

$varDumper = new VarDumper(new CustomOutput());
$varDumper->dump($data);

Screenshots

CLI Mode

HTML Mode

License

This library is open-source software licensed under the MIT license. See the LICENSE file for more information.