formatting - Nice way to print_r arrays

So you know how Drupal has functions in modules like Devel that allow you to output arrays in a nice format like dsm($array) or krumo($array)... Does WordPress have an equivalent or a nice way of displaying print_r($array)?

So you know how Drupal has functions in modules like Devel that allow you to output arrays in a nice format like dsm($array) or krumo($array)... Does WordPress have an equivalent or a nice way of displaying print_r($array)?

• array
• formatting

Share Improve this question asked Feb 2, 2012 at 2:00 emcemc 27811 gold badge33 silver badges1010 bronze badges 2

• what is wwrong with var_dump() or print_r() ? what exactly are you aiming for ? (i am sorry, I do not know druppal so well .. – krembo99 Commented Feb 2, 2012 at 2:27
• 2 krumo allows users to print arrays into a formatted list that expands on click. So instead of having <pre>-wrapped print_r output everywhere, you end up with some very nice dropdown lists instead. Much nicer to display! – emc Commented Feb 2, 2012 at 2:36

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6 Answers 6

Sorted by: Reset to default 12

I created a Kint plugin that works really well. I also integrates with the Debug Bar plugin. You can download it at: http://wordpress/extend/plugins/kint-debugger/

There are a few functions to help you out with WordPress specific globals:

• dump_wp_query()
• dump_wp()
• dump_post()

For printing arrays in a styled, collapsible format you would do the following.

$foo_bar = array(
    'foo' => 'bar',
    'bar' => 'oof',
    'rab' => 'foo'
);
d($foo_bar); //Styled
s($foo_bar); //Un-styled

You can install and use Krumo with WordPress (or any PHP app really). There's the Hikari Krumo plugin that simplifies use, though check the comments there, there's an error that you'll need to manually fix to get it working with latest WP. There's also the WordPress Debug Bar plugin which you might find useful.

EDIT- Another option I've recently discovered, Kint; screenshot:

For this kind of stuff, I wrote REF (requires PHP 5.3). Among many other features, it displays contents of DocBlock comments and linkifies PHP-internal classes, methods and functions (links point to the PHP manual). It also handles WordPress functions (links point to queryposts).

Here's the output of $GLOBALS at the setup stage of WordPress in HTML mode (r($GLOBALS); in functions.php):

If you just wrap the print_r() in <pre> tags it will output beautifully. If you're looking for a bit better diagnostics than that, black box and the debug bar posted by @Milo are my gotos.

Also you can use the plugin Debug Objects; list also scripts and styles. The Plugin has many more options for dev and debugging, but also this feature.

Alternative is this source, you find informations and the post about this topic here:

add_action('wp_footer', 'fb_urls_of_enqueued_stuff');
add_action('admin_footer', 'fb_urls_of_enqueued_stuff');
function fb_urls_of_enqueued_stuff( $handles = array() ) {
    global $wp_scripts, $wp_styles;
    // scripts
    foreach ( $wp_scripts -> registered as $registered )
        $script_urls[ $registered -> handle ] = $registered -> src;
    // styles
    foreach ( $wp_styles -> registered as $registered )
        $style_urls[ $registered -> handle ] = $registered -> src;
    // if empty
    if ( empty( $handles ) ) {
        $handles = array_merge( $wp_scripts -> queue, $wp_styles -> queue );
        array_values( $handles );
    }
    // output of values
    $output = '';
    foreach ( $handles as $handle ) {
        if ( ! empty( $script_urls[ $handle ] ) )
            $output .= $script_urls[ $handle ] . '<br />';
        if ( ! empty( $style_urls[ $handle ] ) )
            $output .= $style_urls[ $handle ] . '<br />';
    }
    echo $output;
}

Why not just use xdebug?

Looks pretty neat to me, by default.

There is also Kint, http://code.google/p/kint/ but I found the dropdowns more confusing, then the full output of xdebug.