print_r

(PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 7)

Prints human-readable information about a variable

mixed print_r ( mixed $expression [, bool $return = false ] )

print_r() displays information about a variable in a way that's readable by humans.

print_r(), var_dump() and var_export() will also show protected and private properties of objects with PHP 5. Static class members will not be shown.

Parameters:

expression

The expression to be printed.

return

If you would like to capture the output of print_r(), use the return parameter. When this parameter is set to TRUE, print_r() will return the information rather than print it.

Returns:

If given a string, integer or float, the value itself will be printed. If given an array, values will be presented in a format that shows keys and elements. Similar notation is used for objects.

When the return parameter is TRUE, this function will return a string. Otherwise, the return value is TRUE.

Notes:

When the return parameter is used, this function uses internal output buffering so it cannot be used inside an ob_start() callback function.

Examples:

print_r() example

<pre>
<?php
$a = array ('a' => 'apple', 'b' => 'banana', 'c' => array ('x', 'y', 'z'));
print_r ($a);
?>
</pre>

The above example will output:

<pre>
Array
(
    [a] => apple
    [b] => banana
    [c] => Array
        (
            [0] => x
            [1] => y
            [2] => z
        )
)
</pre>

return parameter example

<?php
$b = array ('m' => 'monkey', 'foo' => 'bar', 'x' => array ('x', 'y', 'z'));
$results = print_r($b, true); // $results now contains output from print_r
?>