var_dump

(PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 7)

Dumps information about a variable

void var_dump ( mixed $expression [, mixed $... ] )

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 variable you want to dump.

Returns:

No value is returned.

Examples:

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);

?>

The above example will output:

float(3.1)
bool(true)