PHP Check If require_once() Content Is Empty

Question

I am working on a PHP script which involves me including several external PHP scripts via the "require_once()" method. I would like to know if there is a way for the master script (the one including the others) to tell whether or not the processed output from included script has generated any content.

So, for example, maybe the user's permissions for a particular script results in PHP not generating any output. So, maybe, the master script would echo something like:

                             Nothing interesting here!

Is there a way to do that in the master script, or would I need to create these tests inside of the included script, and return the results to the master script?

Thank you for your time,
spryno724

Answer 1

You can capture the output using ob_start, ob_get_contents and ob_end_clean like this:

ob_start();
require_once('script.php');
$output = ob_get_contents();
ob_end_clean();

Answer 2

ob_start();
require_once 'your_file.php';
$output = ob_get_flush(); // ob_get_clean() if you want to suppress the output

if(empty($output)) {
    echo 'Nothing interesting here!';
}