Why do print_r and var_dump execute before echo

Question

I\'m calling either var_dump() or print_r() on an array that has one value in an echo statement:

echo \"
<         


        

Answer 1

You can use the comma operator instead of the dot operator:

echo "<pre>" . var_dump($cal) . "</pre>";

object(Calendar)#2 
<pre>
</pre>

echo "<pre>" , var_dump($cal) , "</pre>";

<pre>object(Calendar)#2 
</pre>

Answer 2

They do it because they aren't returning data, they are echoing. You can do print_r($array, true) to make it return, but var_dump() will need output buffering.

If you want it to work the way you're trying to make it, separate them into distinct calls.

Answer 3

var_dump doesn't return anything, it does its own printing. It evaluates first, since PHP can't concatenate an expression of which it doesn't know the value. You probably want:

echo "<br><br>testArray is ==> ";
var_dump($testArray);
echo " <===<br><br>";

instead. Print the start, the middle, then the end.