How can I print the array in a Tree-like format--making it easier to read?
Try:
<pre><?php print_r($var); ?></pre>
It will give the proper tree structure that HTML's whitespace policy trims out.
I found it's a good idea to print_r as follows
printf("<pre>%s</pre>", print_r($array, true));
It may not be ideal, but it's easier to read.
Are you wrapping the output in <pre> tags? That should get you pretty decent output, because it will show the spaces. Another option would be to install the xdebug extension, which then can replace var_dump so that it generates more-readable HTML output.
Mabe the output looks like junk in the webpage. Try looking at the source of the page and it will be in tree-like format I suppose.
function pr($var)
{
print '<pre>';
print_r(htmlspecialchars($var));
print '</pre>';
}
pr($myArray);
Try taking a look at Zend_Debug, a relatively plug-and-play module from the Zend Framework which does an excellent job at effectively dumping complex variables.
Usage:
$my_var = new StdObject(); // or whatever
Zend_Debug::dump($my_var);
die; // optional, prevents routing, forwarding away, etc.
May I suggest using var_export($array)?
It formats values with parsable php syntax
And even when you forget to output <pre> and </pre> tags, while not very easy on the eye, its output still makes more sense then print_r informal bunch of data.
As many people previously mention, make sure to wrap it around a <pre> tag.
I would take an extra precautions to make sure nothing is wrapping that <pre> as well, such as <p> or <div> with a CSS class that can override the Pre's Style
You could print it into the error log:
error_log(print_r($myarray,1));
Note that you will see instead of carriage returns because it has to be collapsed in a single line.