Introduction

The Output Control functions allow you to control when output is sent from the script. This can be useful in several different situations, especially if you need to send headers to the browser after your script has began outputting data. The Output Control functions do not affect headers sent using header() or setcookie(), only functions such as echo() and data between blocks of PHP code.

Requirements

These functions are available as part of the standard module, which is always available.

Installation

There is no installation needed to use these functions, they are part of the PHP core.

Runtime Configuration

This extension does not define any configuration directives.

Resource Types

This extension does not define any resource types.

Predefined Constants

This extension does not define any constants.

Examples

Example 1. Output Control example <?php ob_start(); echo "Hello\n"; setcookie ("cookiename", "cookiedata"); ob_end_flush(); ?>

In the above example, the output from echo() would be stored in the output buffer until ob_end_flush() was called. In the mean time, the call to setcookie() successfully stored a cookie without causing an error. (You can not normally send headers to the browser after data has already been sent.)

See Also

See also header() and setcookie().