PHP 7.0.6 Released

ob_get_flush

(PHP 4 >= 4.3.0, PHP 5, PHP 7)

ob_get_flushFlush the output buffer, return it as a string and turn off output buffering

Description

string ob_get_flush ( void )

ob_get_flush() flushes the output buffer, return it as a string and turns off output buffering.

The output buffer must be started by ob_start() with PHP_OUTPUT_HANDLER_FLUSHABLE flag. Otherwise ob_get_flush() will not work.

Note: This function is similar to ob_end_flush(), except that this function returns the buffer as a string.

Return Values

Returns the output buffer or FALSE if no buffering is active.

Examples

Example #1 ob_get_flush() example

<?php
//using output_buffering=On
print_r(ob_list_handlers());

//save buffer in a file
$buffer ob_get_flush();
file_put_contents('buffer.txt'$buffer);

print_r(ob_list_handlers());
?>

The above example will output:

Array
(
    [0] => default output handler
)
Array
(
)

See Also

User Contributed Notes

info at pcdoctor dot fr
7 years ago
Hi,
this is just to add a behavior that I haven't understud at first place.

ob_get_flush actually returns the content of the buffer as a text but also it sends the buffer back to the browser so that it's displayed on user screen.

Use ob_get_clean if you do not want the buffer to be send to the user
zubin@byron
10 years ago
Correction to previous post: ob_get_clean() is better, ie:

<?php
// start generating html
$html = '<html><head>'; // etc
// start output buffering
ob_start();
// call function which outputs immediately
print_menu();
// append this to $html and empty buffer
$html .= ob_get_clean();
?>
taras dot dot dot di at gmail dot com
7 years ago
I don't know how exactly this works, but if you call this function, PHP would behave as if headers have been sent (even though the output has gone to a string).

This means that you can't call this function, and then call setcookie for example.

This was verified by trial and error
zubin@byron
10 years ago
I found this function is useful for storing output instead of displaying it. For example, I wanted to use an old function which echoed the ouput but I wanted it in a variable, not outputted immediately. Here's how:

<?php
// start generating html
$html = '<html><head>'; // etc
// start output buffering
ob_start();
// call function which outputs immediately
print_menu();
// append this to $html
$html .= ob_get_flush();
// empty output buffer
ob_clean();
?>
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