How to Pretty Print PHP Array

[Piticha]

Creating our PHP Array

First, we are going to create a sample PHP array.

1. <?php
   
2. //create example array
   
3. $array
   
   =
   
   array
   
   (
   
4. array
   
   (
   
5. 'id'
   
   =>
   
   '1'
   
   ,
   
6. 'firstname'
   
   =>
   
   'neovic'
   
   ,
   
7. 'lastname'
   
   =>
   
   'devierte'
   
8. )
   
   ,
   
9. array
   
   (
   
10. 'id'
    
    =>
    
    '2'
    
    ,
    
11. 'firstname'
    
    =>
    
    'gemalyn'
    
    ,
    
12. 'lastname'
    
    =>
    
    'cepe'
    
13. )
    
    ,
    
14. array
    
    (
    
15. 'id'
    
    =>
    
    '1'
    
    ,
    
16. 'firstname'
    
    =>
    
    'julyn'
    
    ,
    
17. 'lastname'
    
    =>
    
    'divinagracia'
    
18. )
    
19. )
    
    ;
    
20. 
    
21. ?>
    

Printing the Array

Then, we use print_r() function to view item in our array.

1. <?php
   
2. print_r
   
   (
   
   $array
   
   )
   
   ;
   
3. ?>
   

The default display will look something like this:

Prettifying our Array

Finally, we prettify the display of our array by creating a function.

1. <?php
   
2. function
   
   prettyPrint(
   
   $array
   
   )
   
   {
   
3. echo
   
   '<pre>'
   
   .
   
   print_r
   
   (
   
   $array
   
   ,
   
   true
   
   )
   
   .
   
   '</pre>'
   
   ;
   
4. }
   
5. 
   
6. echo
   
   prettyPrint(
   
   $array
   
   )
   
   ;
   
7. ?>
   

Adding the above code will prettify the display of our array and it will look something like this.

Full Code

Here's the full code.

1. <?php
   
2. //create example array
   
3. $array
   
   =
   
   array
   
   (
   
4. array
   
   (
   
5. 'id'
   
   =>
   
   '1'
   
   ,
   
6. 'firstname'
   
   =>
   
   'neovic'
   
   ,
   
7. 'lastname'
   
   =>
   
   'devierte'
   
8. )
   
   ,
   
9. array
   
   (
   
10. 'id'
    
    =>
    
    '2'
    
    ,
    
11. 'firstname'
    
    =>
    
    'gemalyn'
    
    ,
    
12. 'lastname'
    
    =>
    
    'cepe'
    
13. )
    
    ,
    
14. array
    
    (
    
15. 'id'
    
    =>
    
    '1'
    
    ,
    
16. 'firstname'
    
    =>
    
    'julyn'
    
    ,
    
17. 'lastname'
    
    =>
    
    'divinagracia'
    
18. )
    
19. )
    
    ;
    
20. 
    
21. //creating prettify function
    
22. function
    
    prettyPrint(
    
    $array
    
    )
    
    {
    
23. echo
    
    '<pre>'
    
    .
    
    print_r
    
    (
    
    $array
    
    ,
    
    true
    
    )
    
    .
    
    '</pre>'
    
    ;
    
24. }
    
25. 
    
26. //displaying pretty array
    
27. echo
    
    prettyPrint(
    
    $array
    
    )
    
    ;
    
28. 
    
29. ?>
    

That ends this tutorial. Happy Coding :)