Which php variable debugging function do you use? var_dump, print_r, var_export, other? [closed]

Question

I personally use var_dump, but lots of people like print_r.

What does everyone use? Pros and Cons?

Does someone have a special home brew function of their own?

Answer 1

I use print_r() because I like the pretty array structure... but var_dump does give you a bit more information (like types)

$obj = (object) array(1, 2, 3);

// output of var_dump:
object(stdClass)#1 (3) {
  [0]=>
  int(1)
  [1]=>
  int(2)
  [2]=>
  int(3)
}

// output of print_r
stdClass Object
(
  [0] => 1
  [1] => 2
  [2] => 3
)    

Answer 2

I always use the Xdebug extended var_dump. It gives out a lot of verbose output.

See: http://xdebug.org/docs/display for more details.