PHP: A prettier way to var_dump

var_dump is ugly: #

Here's how you can make it pretty: #

Use print_r, and embed the output inside highlight_string.

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<?php

function d($obj): string {
    return highlight_string("<?php\n" . print_r($obj, true) . "\n", true);
}
echo(d($dogsBySize));

It's a tremendous improvement in readability! If you want to skip having to echo() the output, make the function dump it directly instead of returning it:

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<?php

function d($obj) {
    highlight_string("<?php\n" . print_r($obj, true) . "\n", false);
}
d($dogsBySize);

Alternatives #

If you use var_dump a lot, check out Xdebug's improved var_dump feature. None of the native dump functions format the output for HTML rendering (as it shouldn't!), which makes it difficult to read when you have a large/convoluted object. For comparison:

var_export #

print_r #