How can I capture the result of var_dump to a string?

Question

I'd like to capture the output of [`var_dump`](http://us3.php.net/manual/en/function.var-dump.php) to a string. The PHP docs say; >As with anything that outputs its result directly to the browser, the [output-control functions](http://us3.php.net/manual/en/ref.outcontrol.php) can be used to capture the output of this function, and save it in a string (for example). Can someone give me an example of how that might work? `print_r()` isn't a valid possibility because it's not going to give me the information that I need.

Answer 1

You can pass the output of print_r array to a string using this way

$array = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"];

$str = print_r($array, true);

true arg will allow to pass the output to string without actually printing the output of the array.