Display an array in a readable/hierarchical format [duplicate]

Question

Here is the code for pulling the data for my array

<?php
    $link = mysqli_connect('localhost', 'root', '', 'mutli_page_form');

    $query = "SELECT * FROM wills_children WHERE will=73";

    $result = mysqli_query($link, $query) or die(mysqli_error($link));

    if ($result = mysqli_query($link, $query)) {

    /* fetch associative array */
    if($row = mysqli_fetch_assoc($result)) {
        $data = unserialize($row['children']);
    }

    /* free result set */
    mysqli_free_result($result);
    }
?>

When I use print_r($data) it reads as:

Array ( [0] => Array ( [0] => Natural Chlid 1 [1] => Natural Chlid 2 [2] => Natural Chlid 3 ) )

I would like it to read as:

Natural Child 1
Natural Child 2
Natural Child 3

Phenex · Accepted Answer · 2011-03-22 15:05:16Z

481

Instead of

print_r($data);

try

print "<pre>";
print_r($data);
print "</pre>";

answered Mar 22, 2011 at 15:05

Phenex

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2 Comments

DutGRIFF Over a year ago

It is also worth mentioning that you can pass true as the second parameter to print_r to get the data as string. Now you can return '<pre>'.print_r(User::all(), true); from your routes file.

iopener Over a year ago

I like this answer too but the OP only wanted the Strings to print, and not the array indices (it seems like). And only 1-dimensional data. I usually only do this to check a recordset of data before I continue with a solution, so this solution works way better for stuff like that.

Shankar ARUL · Accepted Answer · 2012-10-07 19:30:17Z

82

print("<pre>".print_r($data,true)."</pre>");

answered Oct 7, 2012 at 19:30

Shankar ARUL

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1 Comment

nullability Over a year ago

This is ideal as it does not add unnecessary whitespace around your data.

beppe9000 · Accepted Answer · 2017-03-14 07:36:46Z

56

I have a basic function:

function prettyPrint($a) {
    echo "<pre>";
    print_r($a);
    echo "</pre>";
}

prettyPrint($data);

EDIT: Optimised function

function prettyPrint($a) {
    echo '<pre>'.print_r($a,1).'</pre>';
}

EDIT: Moar Optimised function with custom tag support

function prettyPrint($a, $t='pre') {echo "<$t>".print_r($a,1)."</$t>";}

edited Mar 14, 2017 at 7:36

beppe9000

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answered Oct 17, 2012 at 13:51

ditto

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1 Comment

Darkendorf Over a year ago

Best answer so far, and you can even optimize it more if it's used very often with comma : echo '<pre>',print_r($a,1),'</pre>';

Brian Driscoll · Accepted Answer · 2011-03-22 14:54:17Z

33

Try this:

foreach($data[0] as $child) {
   echo $child . "\n";
}

in place of print_r($data)

answered Mar 22, 2011 at 14:54

Brian Driscoll

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8 Comments

Xavier Over a year ago

<?php foreach($data[0] as $child) { echo $child . "<br />"; }?> this worked great thanks Brian !

cantsay Over a year ago

why on earth is this the chosen answer when <pre></pre> is the obvious choice?

scorgn Over a year ago

This will not work if you have a multidimensional array.

Brian Driscoll Over a year ago

@Alesana Yep, but OP didn't have a multidimensional array. I think as others have commented on this answer the way you want to go is <pre>print_r($data)</pre>. Always fun to see a new comment on a 5+ year old answer though! :)

scorgn Over a year ago

Ah, in my case I was working with a multidimensional array. I haven't left a comment before so when I saw no one else had pointed this out I thought it might be a perfect opportunity!

|

RavatSinh Sisodiya · Accepted Answer · 2013-03-30 09:37:32Z

25

I think that var_export(), the forgotten brother of var_dump() has the best output - it's more compact:

echo "<pre>";
var_export($menue);
echo "</pre>";

By the way: it's not allway necessary to use <pre>. var_dump() and var_export() are already formatted when you take a look in the source code of your webpage.

edited Mar 30, 2013 at 9:37

RavatSinh Sisodiya

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answered Mar 30, 2013 at 9:19

Hexodus

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3 Comments

Chaya Cooper Over a year ago

I agree about var_export, but I've had to combine it with <pre></pre> because it wasn't outputting the results in the proper format.

fpierrat Over a year ago

@Chaya-Cooper It's not properly formatted on the displayed page, but I think Hexodus meant it's formatted "in the source code of your web page" -> try menu "view source", or Ctrl-U in Firefox

Sean the Bean Over a year ago

One benefit of this approach is that the output is formatted as valid PHP, so you could copy/paste it right back into your code if you wanted to.

shakee93 · Accepted Answer · 2017-09-04 13:18:37Z

19

if someone needs to view arrays so cool ;) use this method.. this will print to your browser console

function console($obj)
{
    $js = json_encode($obj);
    print_r('<script>console.log('.$js.')</script>');
}

you can use like this..

console($myObject);

Output will be like this.. so cool eh !!

edited Sep 4, 2017 at 13:18

answered Dec 6, 2015 at 11:29

shakee93

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Comments

Jean-Baptiste Emmanuel Zorg · Accepted Answer · 2018-11-02 14:13:21Z

6

foreach($array as $v) echo $v, PHP_EOL;

UPDATE: A more sophisticated solution would be:

 $test = [
    'key1' => 'val1',
    'key2' => 'val2',
    'key3' => [
        'subkey1' => 'subval1',
        'subkey2' => 'subval2',
        'subkey3' => [
            'subsubkey1' => 'subsubval1',
            'subsubkey2' => 'subsubval2',
        ],
    ],
];
function printArray($arr, $pad = 0, $padStr = "\t") {
    $outerPad = $pad;
    $innerPad = $pad + 1;
    $out = '[' . PHP_EOL;
    foreach ($arr as $k => $v) {
        if (is_array($v)) {
            $out .= str_repeat($padStr, $innerPad) . $k . ' => ' . printArray($v, $innerPad) . PHP_EOL;
        } else {
            $out .= str_repeat($padStr, $innerPad) . $k . ' => ' . $v;
            $out .= PHP_EOL;
        }
    }
    $out .= str_repeat($padStr, $outerPad) . ']';
    return $out;
}

echo printArray($test);

This prints out:

    [
        key1 => val1
        key2 => val2
        key3 => [
            subkey1 => subval1
            subkey2 => subval2
            subkey3 => [
                subsubkey1 => subsubval1
                subsubkey2 => subsubval2
            ]
        ]
    ]

edited Nov 2, 2018 at 14:13

answered Mar 22, 2011 at 14:53

Jean-Baptiste Emmanuel Zorg

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2 Comments

Xavier Over a year ago

<?php foreach($data as $v) echo $v, PHP_EOL; ?> displays "Array"

Jean-Baptiste Emmanuel Zorg Over a year ago

Okay, then you should iterate twice foreach($raw as $array) foreach($array as $v) echo $v, PHP_EOL;

gen_Eric · Accepted Answer · 2011-03-22 14:55:01Z

3

print_r() is mostly for debugging. If you want to print it in that format, loop through the array, and print the elements out.

foreach($data as $d){
  foreach($d as $v){
    echo $v."\n";
  }
}

answered Mar 22, 2011 at 14:55

gen_Eric

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3 Comments

Xavier Over a year ago

thanks for the response but it prints out the data as "Array"

gen_Eric Over a year ago

@Xavier: Did you try the updated code in my answer? You need to loop through both arrays. $data is an array of arrays.

Xavier Over a year ago

and your code worked perfectly too i just changed the /n to a <br />

Beta Projects · Accepted Answer · 2013-08-13 22:17:34Z

3

This may be a simpler solution:

echo implode('<br>', $data[0]);

answered Aug 13, 2013 at 22:17

Beta Projects

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Comments

Pere · Accepted Answer · 2019-06-25 08:32:16Z

This tries to improve print_r() output formatting in console applications:

function pretty_printr($array) {

  $string = print_r($array, TRUE);

  foreach (preg_split("/((\r?\n)|(\r\n?))/", $string) as $line) {

    $trimmed_line = trim($line);

    // Skip useless lines.
    if (!$trimmed_line || $trimmed_line === '(' || $trimmed_line === ')' || $trimmed_line === 'Array') {
      continue;
    }

    // Improve lines ending with empty values.
    if (substr_compare($trimmed_line, '=>', -2) === 0) {
      $line .=  "''";
    }

    print $line . PHP_EOL;
  }
}

Example:

[activity_score] => 0
[allow_organisation_contact] => 1
[cover_media] => Array
        [image] => Array
                [url] => ''
        [video] => Array
                [url] => ''
                [oembed_html] => ''
        [thumb] => Array
                [url] => ''
[created_at] => 2019-06-25T09:50:22+02:00
[description] => example description
[state] => published
[fundraiser_type] => anniversary
[end_date] => 2019-09-25
[event] => Array
[goal] => Array
        [cents] => 40000
        [currency] => EUR
[id] => 37798
[your_reference] => ''

zendka · Accepted Answer · 2016-08-24 11:01:03Z

2

I assume one uses print_r for debugging. I would then suggest using libraries like Kint. This allows displaying big arrays in a readable format:

$data = [['Natural Child 1', 'Natural Child 2', 'Natural Child 3']];
Kint::dump($data, $_SERVER);

answered Aug 24, 2016 at 11:01

zendka

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1 Comment

Sean the Bean Over a year ago

This isn't a vanilla PHP solution, but definitely provides useful and readable output!

TIH · Accepted Answer · 2016-09-15 15:22:19Z

2

One-liner for a quick-and-easy JSON representation:

    echo json_encode($data, JSON_PRETTY_PRINT);

If using composer for the project already, require symfony/yaml and:

    echo Yaml::dump($data);

answered Sep 15, 2016 at 15:22

TIH

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Comments

powtac · Accepted Answer · 2011-03-22 14:58:11Z

1

echo '<pre>';
foreach($data as $entry){
    foreach($entry as $entry2){
        echo $entry2.'<br />';
    }
}

answered Mar 22, 2011 at 14:58

powtac

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Comments

3eighty · Accepted Answer · 2012-11-18 12:05:30Z

1

<?php 
//Make an array readable as string
function array_read($array, $seperator = ', ', $ending = ' and '){
      $opt = count($array);
      return $opt > 1 ? implode($seperator,array_slice($array,0,$opt-1)).$ending.end($array) : $array[0];
}
?>

I use this to show a pretty printed array to my visitors

edited Nov 18, 2012 at 12:05

answered Nov 18, 2012 at 11:11

3eighty

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Comments

Muhammad · Accepted Answer · 2013-03-04 10:27:17Z

1

Very nice way to print formatted array in php, using the var_dump function.

 $a = array(1, 2, array("a", "b", "c"));
 var_dump($a);

answered Mar 4, 2013 at 10:27

Muhammad

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Comments

uutsav · Accepted Answer · 2014-05-23 10:38:25Z

1

I use this for getting keys and their values $qw = mysqli_query($connection, $query);

while ( $ou = mysqli_fetch_array($qw) )
{
    foreach ($ou as $key => $value) 
    {
            echo $key." - ".$value."";
    }
    echo "<br/>";
}

answered May 23, 2014 at 10:38

uutsav

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Comments

Elie GAKUBA · Accepted Answer · 2015-05-22 00:31:33Z

1

I would just use online tools.

first do print_r(your_array)
Second copy the result and paste in http://phillihp.com/toolz/php-array-beautifier/

answered May 22, 2015 at 0:31

Elie GAKUBA

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1 Comment

phillihp Over a year ago

I just updated this to be much more robust, thanks for the link.

mjaning · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-18 21:37:50Z

0

For single arrays you can use implode, it has a cleaner result to print.

<?php
$msg = array('msg1','msg2','msg3');
echo implode('<br />',$msg);
echo '<br />----------------------<br/>';

echo nl2br(implode("\n",$msg));
echo '<br />----------------------<br/>';
?>

For multidimensional arrays you need to combine with some sort of loop.

<?php
$msgs[] = $msg;
$msgs[] = $msg;
$msgs[] = $msg;
$msgs[] = $msg;
$msgs[] = $msg;
foreach($msgs as $msg) {
    echo implode('<br />',$msg);
    echo '<br />----------------------<br/>';
}
?>

answered Apr 18, 2014 at 21:37

mjaning

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