ob_start
(PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 7)
ob_start — Turn on output buffering
Description
$output_callback = NULL
[, int $chunk_size = 0
[, int $flags = PHP_OUTPUT_HANDLER_STDFLAGS
]]] ) : boolThis function will turn output buffering on. While output buffering is active no output is sent from the script (other than headers), instead the output is stored in an internal buffer.
The contents of this internal buffer may be copied into a string variable using ob_get_contents(). To output what is stored in the internal buffer, use ob_end_flush(). Alternatively, ob_end_clean() will silently discard the buffer contents.
Some web servers (e.g. Apache) change the working directory of a script when calling the callback function. You can change it back by e.g. chdir(dirname($_SERVER['SCRIPT_FILENAME'])) in the callback function.
Output buffers are stackable, that is, you may call ob_start() while another ob_start() is active. Just make sure that you call ob_end_flush() the appropriate number of times. If multiple output callback functions are active, output is being filtered sequentially through each of them in nesting order.
Parameters
-
output_callback -
An optional
output_callbackfunction may be specified. This function takes a string as a parameter and should return a string. The function will be called when the output buffer is flushed (sent) or cleaned (with ob_flush(), ob_clean() or similar function) or when the output buffer is flushed to the browser at the end of the request. Whenoutput_callbackis called, it will receive the contents of the output buffer as its parameter and is expected to return a new output buffer as a result, which will be sent to the browser. If theoutput_callbackis not a callable function, this function will returnFALSE. This is the callback signature:handler ( string$buffer[, int$phase] ) : string-
buffer - Contents of the output buffer.
-
phase -
Bitmask of
PHP_OUTPUT_HANDLER_*constants.
If
output_callbackreturnsFALSEoriginal input is sent to the browser.The
output_callbackparameter may be bypassed by passing aNULLvalue.ob_end_clean(), ob_end_flush(), ob_clean(), ob_flush() and ob_start() may not be called from a callback function. If you call them from callback function, the behavior is undefined. If you would like to delete the contents of a buffer, return "" (a null string) from callback function. You can't even call functions using the output buffering functions like print_r($expression, true) or highlight_file($filename, true) from a callback function.
Note:
ob_gzhandler() function exists to facilitate sending gz-encoded data to web browsers that support compressed web pages. ob_gzhandler() determines what type of content encoding the browser will accept and will return its output accordingly.
-
-
chunk_size -
If the optional parameter
chunk_sizeis passed, the buffer will be flushed after any output call which causes the buffer's length to equal or exceedchunk_size. The default value 0 means that the output function will only be called when the output buffer is closed.Prior to PHP 5.4.0, the value 1 was a special case value that set the chunk size to 4096 bytes.
-
flags -
The
flagsparameter is a bitmask that controls the operations that can be performed on the output buffer. The default is to allow output buffers to be cleaned, flushed and removed, which can be set explicitly viaPHP_OUTPUT_HANDLER_CLEANABLE|PHP_OUTPUT_HANDLER_FLUSHABLE|PHP_OUTPUT_HANDLER_REMOVABLE, orPHP_OUTPUT_HANDLER_STDFLAGSas shorthand.Each flag controls access to a set of functions, as described below:
Constant Functions PHP_OUTPUT_HANDLER_CLEANABLEob_clean(), ob_end_clean(), and ob_get_clean(). PHP_OUTPUT_HANDLER_FLUSHABLEob_end_flush(), ob_flush(), and ob_get_flush(). PHP_OUTPUT_HANDLER_REMOVABLEob_end_clean(), ob_end_flush(), and ob_get_flush().
Changelog
| Version | Description |
|---|---|
| 7.0.0 |
In case ob_start() is used inside an output buffer
callback, this function will no longer issue an E_ERROR
but instead an E_RECOVERABLE_ERROR, allowing custom
error handlers to catch such errors.
|
| 5.4.0 |
The third parameter of ob_start() changed from a
boolean parameter called erase
(which, if set to FALSE, would prevent the output buffer from being
deleted until the script finished executing) to an
integer parameter called flags.
Unfortunately, this results in an API compatibility break for code
written prior to PHP 5.4.0 that uses the third parameter. See
the flags example
for an example of how to handle this with code that needs to be
compatible with both.
|
| 5.4.0 | A chunk size of 1 now results in chunks of 1 byte being sent to the output buffer. |
Examples
Example #1 User defined callback function example
<?php
function callback($buffer)
{
// replace all the apples with oranges
return (str_replace("apples", "oranges", $buffer));
}
ob_start("callback");
?>
<html>
<body>
<p>It's like comparing apples to oranges.</p>
</body>
</html>
<?php
ob_end_flush();
?>
The above example will output:
<html> <body> <p>It's like comparing oranges to oranges.</p> </body> </html>
Example #2 Creating an uneraseable output buffer in a way compatible with both PHP 5.3 and 5.4
<?php
if (version_compare(PHP_VERSION, '5.4.0', '>=')) {
ob_start(null, 0, PHP_OUTPUT_HANDLER_STDFLAGS ^
PHP_OUTPUT_HANDLER_REMOVABLE);
} else {
ob_start(null, 0, false);
}
?>
See Also
- ob_get_contents() - Return the contents of the output buffer
- ob_end_clean() - Clean (erase) the output buffer and turn off output buffering
- ob_end_flush() - Flush (send) the output buffer and turn off output buffering
- ob_implicit_flush() - Turn implicit flush on/off
- ob_gzhandler() - ob_start callback function to gzip output buffer
- ob_iconv_handler() - Convert character encoding as output buffer handler
- mb_output_handler() - Callback function converts character encoding in output buffer
- ob_tidyhandler() - ob_start callback function to repair the buffer
English translation
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Document created the 30/01/2003, last modified the 26/10/2018
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References
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