Sending "var_dump" to FireBug console

Maybe what you need is something like this:

function var2console($var, $name='', $now=false){   if ($var === null)          $type = 'NULL';   else if (is_bool    ($var)) $type = 'BOOL';   else if (is_string  ($var)) $type = 'STRING['.strlen($var).']';   else if (is_int     ($var)) $type = 'INT';   else if (is_float   ($var)) $type = 'FLOAT';   else if (is_array   ($var)) $type = 'ARRAY['.count($var).']';   else if (is_object  ($var)) $type = 'OBJECT';   else if (is_resource($var)) $type = 'RESOURCE';   else                        $type = '???';   if (strlen($name)) {      str2console("$type $name = ".var_export($var, true).';', $now);   } else {      str2console("$type = "      .var_export($var, true).';', $now);   }}function str2console($str, $now=false){   if ($now) {      echo "<script type='text/javascript'>\n";      echo "//<![CDATA[\n";      echo "console.log(", json_encode($str), ");\n";      echo "//]]>\n";      echo "</script>";   } else {      register_shutdown_function('str2console', $str, true);   }}

Usage: var2console($myvar, '$myvar'); or simply var2console($myvar);

It should very rarely be necessary to set the $now parameter to true, causing the immediate output of the <script> tag. The advantage of using register_shutdown_function() is that you don't need to pay attention to "where you are" in the HTML.

The json_encode() preserves all characters in the transfer from PHP to JavaScript. The only caveat is about encoding: json_encode() only works with UTF-8 (which is the recommended encoding in most cases, anyway). You may need something like utf8_encode() or mb_convert_encoding() if you use a different encoding (or rather, you may consider switching to UTF-8).

The output to Firebug's console is simply the output of var_export(), preceded by the type of the variable, including the length of strings and the count of arrays, and, optionally, by the name of the variable.

var_export() provides a more readable output than var_dump(). If you really need the output of var_dump(), you can use something like this:

function dump2console($var, $name='', $now=false){   ob_start();   if (strlen($name)) {      echo "$name =\n";   }   var_dump($var);   $str = ob_get_clean();   str2console($str, $now);}

Usage: dump2console($myvar, '$myvar'); or simply dump2console($myvar);

You should avoid circular references (var_dump() detects them a step too late, and var_export() doesn't detect them at all). This is how to do it, e.g., for $GLOBALS:

function globals2console($now=false){   $g = $GLOBALS;   $g['GLOBALS'] = '(recursion)';   var2console($g, '$GLOBALS', $now);}

You can dump JavaScript to the console by putting a console.log() in a script tag:

<script type="text/javascript">console.log("hello");</script>

So if you do a php dump in there...

<script type="text/javascript">console.log("<?php var_dump('abc'); ?>");</script>

You just need to be careful about ' and " in the var_dump breaking your JavaScript. In this example it will be ok because the HTML would be:

<script type="text/javascript">console.log("string 'abc' (length=3)");</script>

Just remember the php is processed then put in the JavaScript.You could also dump it to a comment:

<!--<?php var_dump('abc');?>-->

Then you can view source, or inspect element.

<script>console.log( <?= json_encode( $var ) ?> )</script>

Just throwing my hat in the ring. It sounds like FirePHP is the best way to go.