Suppress echo from PHP include file

Question

I have a file PHP01.php which: - performs a function - creates an array - echo's some message

I need to include this file in another php script, say PHP02.php as I need access to the array it created. But when I jquery POST request to PHP02.php, the data it returns also has the echo from PHP01.php

How can I suppress the echo from the first file?

Answer 1

You can output buffer it if editing or otherwise restructuring is not possible:

ob_start();

include "PHP02.php";

ob_end_clean();