PHP tools

These tools are framework agnostic and work in any PHP project. For framework-specific tools, see Laravel and Livewire. For tests, see Pest.

Dump

Pass one or more values to ds(). Execution continues.

$name    = 'Taylor';
$country = ['code' => 'US', 'name' => 'United States'];

ds($name);
ds($name, $country);

ds($name, $country);

LaraDumps

Home 1QueriesLogsJobs

routes/web.php:5dump

(string) Taylor

array:2 [
  "code" => "US"
  "name" => "United States"
]

Dump and die

ds()->die() or dsd() dumps, then stops execution. Both work like dd().

ds($order)->die();
dsd($order);

Quiet dump

By default the app comes to the front on every dump. Use dsq() to dump without bringing it forward, or turn off Auto-Invoke.

foreach ($products as $product) {
    dsq('Checking product #' . $product['id']); // app stays in the background

    if ($product['price'] < 0) {
        ds('Invalid price in product #' . $product['id']); // app is invoked
    }
}

dsq() has an effect only when Auto-Invoke is on.

Label

label() names a dump so you can find it among similar ones.

ds($creator)->label('Creator of LaraDumps');
ds($other)->label('Creator of Laravel');

Screens

toScreen() and its alias s() send a dump to a named screen. Screens group related dumps.

ds('Default screen');
ds('Checkout')->toScreen('checkout');
ds('Checkout')->s('checkout');

toScreen() takes an optional second argument, raiseIn: the delay in seconds before the app comes to the front.

toScreenWindow() and its alias w() open the screen in a new window.

ds($payment)->toScreenWindow('payments');
ds($payment)->w('payments');

Clear screens

clear() removes all previous dumps from all screens.

ds()->clear();

To clear one screen, click the × on its tab in the app.

Color tag

Mark a dump with a color. Each color has an alias.

Method	Alias	Color
info()	blue()	Blue
success()	green()	Green
danger()	red()	Red
warning()	orange()	Orange
dark()	black()	Black

ds('Payment received')->success();
ds('Payment failed')->danger();

When config.color_in_screen is true in laradumps.yaml, info(), success(), danger() and warning() send the dump to a screen of the same name instead.

Time

Wrap code in time() and stopTime(). Use the same reference string in both.

ds()->time('import');

foreach ($rows as $row) {
    // ...
}

ds()->stopTime('import');

Table

table() shows data in a table with a search bar. It takes an iterable or object, and an optional name.

$users = [
    ['id' => 1, 'name' => 'David', 'email' => 'david@example.com'],
    ['id' => 2, 'name' => 'Julia', 'email' => 'julia@example.com'],
];

ds()->table($users, 'users');

JSON

isJson() validates a string and shows it as formatted JSON. Use it for API and front-end payloads.

ds($response->body())->isJson();  // valid: formatted
ds('{"name: Luan}')->isJson();    // invalid: reported as invalid

Contains

contains() checks whether a string appears in the dump. Use it on long strings.

$html = '<select><option>Choice 1</option><option>Choice 3</option></select>';

ds($html)->contains('Choice 3')->label('Should contain');
ds($html)->contains('Choice 29')->label('Should not contain');

Both options default to false:

$json = '{"name":"Mariana","country":"Brazil"}';

ds($json)->contains('brazil', caseSensitive: true); // no match
ds($json)->contains('Maria', wholeWord: true);      // no match

PHPInfo

phpinfo() shows the current PHP settings in a table.

ds()->phpinfo();

Benchmark

benchmark() runs closures and dumps the start time, end time, total time and result of each. The fastest closure is flagged. Pass closures as arguments or as an array.

ds()->benchmark(
    function () {
        sleep(2);
        return 'First';
    },
    function () {
        sleep(1);
        return 'Second';
    }
);

Use array keys as labels:

ds()->benchmark([
    'Query' => fn () => User::all(),
    'Cache' => fn () => Cache::get('users'),
]);

benchmark() returns the instance, so you can chain it with other tools:

ds()->benchmark($first, $second)->table($users, 'users');

Grouped dumps

With config.grouped_dumps: true in laradumps.yaml, ds($a, $b) sends all arguments as one dump instead of one dump per argument.

Next step

See the Laravel tools, or scan the reference sheet.