nice print

[[dmsuperman]]

/*
Function.....: nice_print
Description..: Same as the print except boolean and null data is converted into a human readable string
Syntax.......: nice_echo(<data>);

Example......: nice_print("Test") --> "String -> Test"
nice_echo(true) --> "Boolean -> True"
nice_echo(null) --> "Null -> Null"
nice_echo(0) --> "Integer -> 0"

Input........: Format: mixed

Output.......: Print: string

Author.......: [dmsuperman]


Date(s)......: 3/22/06

Version......: 1.0

*/
function nice_print($input){
  print("<pre>");
  if($input===false){
    print("Boolean -> False");
  }else if($input===true){
    print("Boolean -> True");
  }else if($input===null){
    print("Null -> Null");
  }else{
    if(is_string($input)){
      print("String -> " . $input);
    }else if(is_int($input)){
      print("Integer -> " . $input);
    }else if(is_array($input)){
      print_r($input);
    }else{
      print("Unknown -> " . $input);
    }
  }
  print("</pre>");
}

This is like ASP's chr function (I think that's what it's called...) it's basically for debugging, it will take data passed to it and output it in a readable form, so boolean will not just output nothing, it will tell you (Boolean) -> True, integers will have (Integer) before them, null will be displayed as (Null) -> Null, etc.

Do what you want with it...it's not really supposed to be a big thing.

[acoolie530]

First, of all, I would've used a switch structure on gettype($input).

Anywys, what's the difference between this and var_dump, and var_dump, handles arrays and shows more info =P

Also, the syntax example is wrong, nice_print is the function, not var_echo.

[[dmsuperman]]

I've never heard of var_dump

Switch/case is nothing more than a neater way to use an if statement, it wouldn't affect the actual process other than use slightly more resource, so to each his own on that one.

As for nice_echo...I renamed it somewhere along the long. Doesn't matter, if this is already included in PHP it can be deleted. Wish I'd have known about var_dump before though lol.

[acoolie530]

Yeah, var_dump and print_r are really common for debugging purposes. Many comments at php.net include var_dump.

Also, switch would just've simplified the code. Adding objects support, etc. would be easier with a switch