var_export

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dosperios at dot gmail dot nospam do com
11-Oct-2006 02:19


Here is a nifty function to export an object with var_export without the keys, which can be useful if you want to export an array but don't want the keys (for example if you want to be able to easily add something in the middle of the array by hand).



<?

function var_export_nokeys ($obj, $ret=false) {

    $retval = preg_replace("/'?\w+'?\s+=>\s+/", '', var_export($obj, true));

    if ($ret===true) {

        return $retval;

    } else {

        print $retval;

    }

}

?>



Works the same as var_export obviously. I found it useful, maybe someone else will too!

nobody at nowhere dot de
30-Aug-2006 06:48


Here is a bit code, what will read an saved object and turn it into an array.

Please note: It is very lousy style. Only an an idea.



$data = file_get_contents("test.txt");

$data = preg_replace('/class .*{/im', 'array (', $data);

$data = preg_replace('/\}/im', ')', $data);

$data = preg_replace('/var /im', '', $data);

$data = preg_replace('/;/im', ',', $data);

$data = preg_replace('/=/im', '=>', $data);

$data = preg_replace('/=>>/im', '=>', $data);

$data = preg_replace('/\$(.*?) /im', '"$1"', $data);

eval('$O = ' . $data . ';');

print_r($O);

Zorro
05-Sep-2005 02:24


This function can't export EVERYTHING. Moreover, you can have an error on an simple recursive array:



$test = array();

$test["oops"] = & $test;



echo var_export($test);



=>



Fatal error:  Nesting level too deep - recursive dependency? in ??.php on line 59

linus at flowingcreativity dot net
05-Jul-2005 12:50


<roman at DIESPAM dot feather dot org dot ru>, your function has inefficiencies and problems. I probably speak for everyone when I ask you to test code before you add to the manual.



Since the issue of whitespace only comes up when exporting arrays, you can use the original var_export() for all other variable types. This function does the job, and, from the outside, works the same as var_export().



<?php



function var_export_min($var, $return = false) {

    if (is_array($var)) {

        $toImplode = array();

        foreach ($var as $key => $value) {

            $toImplode[] = var_export($key, true).'=>'.var_export_min($value, true);

        }

        $code = 'array('.implode(',', $toImplode).')';

        if ($return) return $code;

        else echo $code;

    } else {

        return var_export($var, $return);

    }

}



?>

roman at DIESPAM dot feather dot org dot ru
19-Mar-2005 05:46


Function that exports variables without adding any junk to the resulting string:

<?php

function encode($var){

    if (is_array($var)) {

        $code = 'array(';

        foreach ($var as $key => $value) {

            $code .= "'$key'=>".encode($value).',';

        }

        $code = chop($code, ','); //remove unnecessary coma

        $code .= ')';

        return $code;

    } else {

        if (is_string($var)) {

            return "'".$var."'";

        } elseif (is_bool($code)) {

            return ($code ? 'TRUE' : 'FALSE');

        } else {

            return 'NULL';

        }

    }

}



function decode($string){

    return eval('return '.$string.';');

}

?>

The resulting string can sometimes be smaller, that output of serialize(). May be useful for storing things in the database.

paul at worldwithoutwalls dot co dot uk
25-Nov-2004 03:22


var_export() differs from print_r() for variables that are resources, with print_r() being more useful if you are using the function for debugging purposes.

e.g.

<?php

$res = mysql_connect($dbhost, $dbuser, $dbpass);

print_r($res); //output: Resource id #14

var_export($res); //output: NULL

?>

aidan at php dot net
11-Jun-2004 12:53


This functionality is now implemented in the PEAR package PHP_Compat.



More information about using this function without upgrading your version of PHP can be found on the below link:



http://pear.php.net/package/PHP_Compat

php_manual_note at bigredspark dot com
16-Oct-2003 03:43


[john holmes]


True, but that method would require you to open and read the file into a variable and then unserialize it into another variable.





Using a file created with var_export() could simply be include()'d, which will be less code and faster. 





[kaja]


If you are trying to find a way to temporarily save variables into some other file, check out serialize() and unserialize() instead - this one is more useful for its readable property, very handy while debugging.





[original post]


If you're like me, you're wondering why a function that outputs "correct PHP syntax" is useful. This function can be useful in implementing a cache system. You can var_export() the array into a variable and write it into a file. Writing a string such as





<?php


$string = '<?php $array = ' . $data . '; ?>';


?>





where $data is the output of var_export() can create a file that can be easily include()d back into the script to recreate $array. 





The raw output of var_export() could also be eval()d to recreate the array.





---John Holmes...

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