Including PHP functions from another file

Question

I would like to access some functions defined in another PHP file, but that file also outputs content that I don't want to display.

Is there any way to access the functions without "running" the whole file? Perhaps by redirecting the output from that file to somewhere hidden?

Answer 1

<?php
ob_start();
require 'filename.php';
ob_end_clean();
?>

Answer 2

Eh you might be able to do something with using the output buffer and manually clearing contents, but why not just move the common functions into a common include? I usually shove common helper methods into their own file (which won't output anything).