PHP var_export() Function

The PHP var_export() function returns structured information about the given variable. This function is similar to var_dump() except the returned representation is valid PHP code.

Syntax

var_export(variable, return)

Parameters

Return Value

If return is set to true, the function returns the variable representation. Otherwise, it returns null.

Example:

The example below shows the usage of var_export() function.

<?php
$x = array(10, 20, array("a", "b"));
var_export($x);

echo "\n\n";

$y = array(10=>"Red", 20=>"Green", 30=>"Blue",
           40=>array("Black", "White"));
var_export($y);
?>

The output of the above code will be:

array (
  0 => 10,
  1 => 20,
  2 => 
  array (
    0 => 'a',
    1 => 'b',
  ),
)

array (
  10 => 'Red',
  20 => 'Green',
  30 => 'Blue',
  40 => 
  array (
    0 => 'Black',
    1 => 'White',
  ),
)

Example:

Consider one more example where this function is used with return parameter which is set to true.

<?php
$x = "Hello";
$y = var_export($x, true);
echo $y;

echo "\n";

$p = 10.5;
$q = var_export($p, true);
echo $q;
?>

The output of the above code will be:

'Hello'
10.5