How to clear previously echoed items in PHP
In php, is there any way to clear/remove all previously echoed or printed items?
For example:
<?php
echo 'a';
print 'b';
// some statement that removes all printed/echoed items
echo 'c';
// the final output should be equal to 'c', not 'abc'
?>
My script uses the include function. The included files are not supposed to echo anything. Just in case someone (ex = hacker) tries, I need a way to remove.
Answer
<?php
ob_start();
echo 'a';
print 'b';
// some statement that removes all printed/echoed items
ob_end_clean();
echo 'c';
// the final output is equal to 'c', not 'abc'
?>
The output buffering functions are also useful in hackery to coerce functions that only print to return strings, ie.
<?php
ob_start();
var_dump($myVar);
$data = ob_get_clean();
// do whatever with $data
?>