CODEWITHSUNDEEP
php
Frantisek
Frantisek

Reputation: 7693

How to store echo in a variable in PHP without duplicating?

Imagine the following:

<?php
echo 'foo';
echo 'bar';
?>

Simple, right? Now, what if at the end of this simple script I need to have everything I've echoed in that script in a variable, like:

<?php
echo 'foo';
echo 'bar';
// $end // which contains 'foobar';
?>

I tried this:

<?php
$end = NULL;
echo $end .= 'foo'; // this echoes foo
echo $end .= 'bar'; // this echoes foobar (this is bad)
// $end // which contains 'foobar' (this is ok);
?>

But it doesn't work, as it appends the data, therefore echoes the appended data (duplicated). Any way to do this?

EDIT: I cannot use OB, as I'm already using it in the script in a different way (I'm simulating a CLI-output in a browser).

Upvotes: 0

Views: 2217

Answers (3)

Nick Dickinson-Wilde
Nick Dickinson-Wilde

Reputation: 1015

Apparently I was misunderstanding: so then I'd suggest this:

<?php
    $somevar = '';
    function record_and_echo($msg,$record_var) {
        echo($msg);
        return ($msg);
    }
    $somevar .= record_and_echo('foo');
    //...whatever else//
    $somevar .= record_and_echo('bar');
?>

old: Unless I'm misunderstanding this'll do that fine:

<?php
    $output = ''
    $output .= 'foo';
    $output .= 'bar';
    echo $output;
?>

Upvotes: 1

TheFrost
TheFrost

Reputation: 1265

OB can be nested:

<?php
ob_start();

echo 'some output';

ob_start();

echo 'foo';
echo 'bar';

$nestedOb = ob_get_contents();
ob_end_clean();

echo 'other output';

$outerOb = ob_get_contents();
ob_end_clean();

echo 'Outer output: ' . $outerOb . '' . "\n" . 'Nested output: ' . $nestedOb;

The result:

Outer output: some outputother output;
Nested output: foobar

Upvotes: 0

dialer
dialer

Reputation: 4835

I'm not really sure what you are trying to accomplish, but consider output buffering:

<?php
ob_start();
echo "foo";
echo "bar";

$end = ob_get_clean();
echo $end;

Upvotes: 0

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