How to var_dump from CodeIgniter controller

Question

I am attempting to do a var_dump from a controller to my log file and I’m left with an empty line.

Here’s the code within my controller:

$checked = 'test error';
log_message('error', var_dump($checked));

In my log file, I get:

ERROR - 2014-06-23 12:30:34->

I am able to get the result of:

$checked = 'test error';
log_message('error', $checked);

So, it must be an issue with var_dump()?

Any ideas? Thanks for the help.

Answer 1

Based on PHP var_dump() documentation, var_dump()LINK doesn't return, it only outputs.

Therefore you can use output buffering PHP function like the following:

<?php
   ob_start();
   var_dump($data);
   $result = ob_get_contents(); //or ob_get_clean()
   //ob_end_clean() 
?>