ob_start
Turn on output buffering
Description
bool ob_start(callablenull $callback = null, int $chunk_size = 0, int $flags = PHP_OUTPUT_HANDLER_STDFLAGS)
Output buffers are stackable, that is,
ob_start may be called while another buffer is active.
If multiple output buffers are active,
output is being filtered sequentially
through each of them in nesting order.
See Nesting Output Buffers for more details.
See User-Level Output Buffers
for a detailed description of output buffers.
Parameters
-
callback
-
An optional callback callable may be
specified. It can also be bypassed by passing null.
callback is invoked when the output buffer is
flushed (sent), cleaned, or when the output buffer is flushed
at the end of the script.
The signature of the callback is as follows:
string handler(string $buffer, int $phase = ?)
-
buffer
-
Contents of the output buffer.
-
phase
-
Bitmask of
PHP_OUTPUT_HANDLER_*
constants
.
See Flags Passed To Output Handlers
for more details.
If callback returns false
the contents of the buffer are returned.
See Output Handler Return Values
for more details.
Warning
Calling any of the following functions from within an output handler
will result in a fatal error:
ob_clean, ob_end_clean,
ob_end_flush, ob_flush,
ob_get_clean, ob_get_flush,
ob_start.
See Output Handlers
and Working With Output Handlers
for more details on callbacks (output handlers).
-
chunk_size
-
If the optional parameter chunk_size is passed,
the buffer will be flushed after any block of code resulting in output
that causes the buffer's length to equal
or exceed chunk_size.
The default value 0 means
that all output is buffered until the buffer is turned off.
See Buffer Size for more details.
-
flags
-
The flags parameter is a bitmask that controls
the operations that can be performed on the output buffer. The default
is to allow output buffers to be cleaned, flushed and removed, which
can be set explicitly via the
buffer control flags
.
See Operations Allowed On Buffers
for more details.
Each flag controls access to a set of functions, as described below:
Return Values
Returns true on success or false on failure.
Examples
Example #1 User defined callback function example
<?php
function callback($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 unerasable output buffer
<?php
ob_start(null, 0, PHP_OUTPUT_HANDLER_STDFLAGS ^ PHP_OUTPUT_HANDLER_REMOVABLE);
?>
See Also
- ob_get_contents
- ob_end_clean
- ob_end_flush
- ob_implicit_flush
- ob_gzhandler
- ob_iconv_handler
- mb_output_handler
- ob_tidyhandler