Planet CakePHP

If you are ever like me and hate having to type print_r and echo pre blocks whenever you want to debug a variable or array, this function is for you! This is a global function that can be used to output any data that you need to debug and it comes equipped with some nifty features. For one thing, the debug() will not output any data on the website if error_reporting is turned off, which is good for instances where you forget to remove the debug() code! It will also display the file and line number where the debug() was called, and you can pass true as the second argument to do a var_dump instead of print_r. Here's the code for your enjoyment!

/**
 * Outputs/Debugs a variable and shows where it was called from
 * @param mixed $var
 * @param boolean $dump
 * @param boolean $backtrace
 * @return string
 */
function debug($var, $dump = false, $backtrace = true) {
	if (error_reporting() > 0) {
		if ($backtrace) {
			$calledFrom = debug_backtrace();
			echo '<strong>' . trim(str_replace($_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'], '', $calledFrom[0]['file'])) . '</strong> (line <strong>' . $calledFrom[0]['line'] . '</strong>)';
		}
		
		echo '<pre class="debug">';
		$function = ($dump) ? 'var_dump' : 'print_r';
		$function($var);
		echo '</pre>';
	}
}

Please note that this is a very basic debug function with very basic backtrace functionality. Here are a few examples on how to use the function (if for some reason you don't understand it).

debug($_SERVER);

// var_dump() instead of print_r()
debug($_SERVER, true);

// Do not display the backtrace
debug($_SERVER, false, false);