Parse and format var_dump data to become more readable

Question

I have a class that exposes var_dump data in order to get better human readable layout.

I have achieved this with a lot of preg_replace and a series of regular expressions that run one after another. They parse the result of the var_dump to have a more readable and highlighted output.

I would like them to review and verify it in order to optimize it and reduce the code if possible.

Check the Update 1

My code can also be found on GitHub.

<?php //this PHP code is old. In the repository is the updated code, see update # 1.
class ClassVarsManager
{
 private function GetType($var)
 {
 if (in_array($var, ['null', 'NULL', null], true)) {
 return '(Type of NULL)';
 }
 if (in_array($var, ['TRUE', 'FALSE', 'true', 'false', true, false], true)) {
 return 'boolean';
 }
 if (is_array($var)) {
 return 'array';
 }
 if (is_object($var)) {
 return 'object';
 }
 if ((int) $var == $var && is_numeric($var)) {
 return 'integer';
 }
 if ((float) $var == $var && is_numeric($var)) {
 return 'float';
 }
 if (strpos($var, 'resource') !== false) {
 foreach ($this->GetResourceTypeArray() as $value) {
 if (strpos($var, $value) !== false) {
 return 'resource (' . $value . ')';
 }
 }
 }
 if (strpos($var, '/') !== false) {
 if (in_array($var, timezone_identifiers_list())) {
 return 'time-zone';
 }
 }
 if (strpos($var, ' ') !== false and strpos($var, ':') !== false) {
 $testdate = explode(' ', $var);
 if ($this->ValidateDate($testdate[0], false) && $this->ValidateDate($testdate[1], false && strpos($testdate[1], ':') !== false)) {
 return 'datetime';
 }
 }
 if ($this->ValidateDate($var, false) and strpos($var, ':') !== false) {
 return 'time';
 }
 if ($this->ValidateDate($var, false) and strlen($var) >= 8) {
 return 'date';
 }
 if (is_string($var)) {
 return 'string(' . strlen($var) . ')';
 }
 }
 private function VarExportFormat($var, $highlight = false)
 {
 ob_start();
 var_dump($var);
 $var_dump = ob_get_clean();
 $var_dump = preg_replace(["/\[\"/", "/\"\]/", "/\]/", "/\[/", "/\)\s*\{(\s*\w*)/", "/(\s*\w*)\}(\s*\w*)/", "/=>\s*(\w)/", "/\[\s*\](,)/", "~^ +~m"], ["'", "'", '', '', ') [1ドル', '1ドル],2ドル', ' => 1ドル', '[]1ドル', '0ドル0ドル'], $var_dump);
 $var_dump = preg_split('~\R~', $var_dump);
 $var_dump = preg_replace_callback(
 '/(\s*=>\s*)(NULL)/',
 function ($m) {
 return $m[1] . $this->GetType(str_replace("'", '', $m[2])) . ": {$m[2]},";
 }, $var_dump
 );
 $var_dump = preg_replace_callback(
 '/(\w+\W\d\W)\s*"([^"]+)"$/',
 function ($m) {
 return $this->GetType(str_replace("'", '', $m[2])) . ": {$m[2]},";
 }, $var_dump
 );
 $var_dump = preg_replace_callback(
 '/\w+\((\D+)\)$/',
 function ($m) {
 return $this->GetType(str_replace("'", '', $m[1])) . ": {$m[1]},";
 }, $var_dump
 );
 $var_dump = preg_replace_callback(
 '/\w+\((\d+)\)$/',
 function ($m) {
 return $this->GetType(str_replace("'", '', $m[1])) . ": {$m[1]},";
 }, $var_dump
 );
 $var_dump = preg_replace_callback(
 '/\w+\((\d*\.\d*)\)$/',
 function ($m) {
 return $this->GetType(str_replace("'", '', $m[1])) . ": {$m[1]},";
 }, $var_dump
 );
 $var_dump = preg_replace_callback(
 '/\w+\(\d+\)(\s*)"([^"]*)"$/',
 function ($m) {
 return $m[1] . $this->GetType(str_replace("'", '', $m[2])) . ': "' . $m[2] . '",';
 }, $var_dump
 );
 $var_dump = implode(PHP_EOL, $var_dump);
 $var_dump = preg_replace("/(NULL)(\r|\n)/", '1,ドル2ドル', $var_dump);
 $var_dump = preg_replace("/(\w+\s*\[)$/", '1ドル]', $var_dump);
 $var_dump = rtrim($var_dump, ',');
 if ($highlight && VERSYSTEM !== 'cli') {
 $textvar = highlight_string('<?php ' . PHP_EOL . '/***** Output of Data *****/' . PHP_EOL . $var_dump . ';' . PHP_EOL . '/***** Output of Data *****/' . PHP_EOL . '', true);
 $textvar = preg_replace("/\r|\n|<br>/", "", $textvar);
 }
 return $textvar;
 }
 public function VarExport($Var, $Var2 = null, $Var3 = null, $Var4 = null, $Var5 = null)
 {
 echo PRES;
 echo $this->VarExportFormat($Var, true) . EOL_SYS;
 if (null !== $Var2) {
 echo $this->VarExportFormat($Var2, true) . EOL_SYS;
 }
 if (null !== $Var3) {
 echo $this->VarExportFormat($Var3, true) . EOL_SYS;
 }
 if (null !== $Var4) {
 echo $this->VarExportFormat($Var4, true) . EOL_SYS;
 }
 if (null !== $Var5) {
 echo $this->VarExportFormat($Var5, true) . EOL_SYS;
 }
 echo PREE;
 }
 public function ValidateDate($date)
 {
 if (($timestamp = strtotime($date)) != false) {
 return true;
 } else {
 return false;
 }
 }
}

UPDATE 1

After the Suggestions and Updates from mickmackusa.

class-vars.php

Answer 1

1. Unless you have a valuable/deliberate reason to use and in your condition statements, I recommend consistently using &&. Condition logic can sometimes fall prey to unintended "precedence" complications.

2. This whole line is "jacked" (wrong / incorrectly coded):

   if ($this->ValidateDate($testdate[0], false) && $this->ValidateDate($testdate[1], false && strpos($testdate[1], ':') !== false)) {
   

   ValidateDate() only accepts one parameter, but you are passing two (in several instances to be honest). The second time that you call this method in this line, you omitted a ), so you are effectively doing this:

   $this->ValidateDate(
    $testdate[1],
    false && strpos($testdate[1], ':') !== false // <-- this, of course, will always be false
    // ...not that the 2nd parameter is ever respected by the method
   )
   

   I think you mean to write the following:

   if (strpos($testdate[1], ':') !== false && $this->ValidateDate($testdate[0]) && $this->ValidateDate($testdate[1])) {
   

3. I don't like the body of the ValidateDate() method at all.

   • It declares $timestamp but never uses it.
   • It does a falsey check on strtotime()'s return value which can technically return 0.
   • It uses if and else to explicitly return true and false instead of returning the evaluation itself.

   
   I recommend that you scrap the method entirely and just call strtotime($string) !== false. That said, there are LOADS of strings that strtotime() will deem to be a date and/or time expression, so I don't know if this is the right form of validation -- maybe this is a subjective judgement call -- the decision/power is yours.

4. Regarding this line:

   $var_dump = preg_replace(["/\[\"/", "/\"\]/", "/\]/", "/\[/", "/\)\s*\{(\s*\w*)/", "/(\s*\w*)\}(\s*\w*)/", "/=>\s*(\w)/", "/\[\s*\](,)/", "~^ +~m"], ["'", "'", '', '', ') [1ドル', '1ドル],2ドル', ' => 1ドル', '[]1ドル', '0ドル0ドル'], $var_dump);
   

   It is far beyond the recommended character width. It will make your script easier to read if you can avoid horizontal scrolling. Write each function parameter on a new line. Better still, write the elements on their own line; not only will this improve readability, it will afford you the space to write inline comments if you wish. Also, the first two patterns are replaced by ' so just combine the patterns with a pipe. Same advice with the 3rd and 4th patterns. Something like this:

   $var_dump = preg_replace(
    [
    '/\["|"]/',
    "/]|\[/",
    "/\)\s*{(\s*\w*)/",
    "/(\s*\w*)}(\s*\w*)/",
    "/=>\s*(\w)/",
    "/\[\s*](,)/",
    "~^ +~m"
    ],
    [
    "'",
    '',
    ') [1ドル',
    '1ドル],2ドル',
    ' => 1ドル',
    '[]1ドル',
    '0ドル0ドル'
    ],
    $var_dump
    );
   

5. You are writing a battery of preg_replace_callback() calls on $var_dump. Generally speaking this looks like a perfect candidate for preg_replace_callback_array().

6. I notice that you are making several str_replace() calls in callbacks where the match string cannot possibly have a single quote in it. These needless calls should be removed -- just pass the value to the GetType() method.

7. This replacement:

   preg_replace("/(NULL)(\r|\n)/", '1,ドル2ドル', $var_dump);
   

   could be written without the captures/references as:

   preg_replace("/NULL\K(?=\R)/", ',', $var_dump);
   

8. Pattern&Replacement: "/(\w+\s*\[)$/", '1ドル]' could be: "/\w+\s*\[$/", '0ドル]'

9. "/\r|\n|<br>/" can be simplified to "/\R|<br>/"

10. I don't see where constants PRES, PREE, and EOL_SYS are defined.

11. I assume that you have arbitrarily decided to permit a maximum of 5 parameters to be passed into your VarExport() method. You needn't make such a rigid distinction. You can liberate the method and eliminate the battery of null !== checks using the splat operator and some native functions. Check out this Demonstration:

    class ClassVarsManager
    {
     private function VarExportFormat($data) {
     return '*' . $data . '*';
     }
     public function VarExport(...$var) {
     echo PRES , implode(EOL_SYS, array_map([$this, 'VarExportFormat'], $var)) , PREE;
     }
    }
    define('PRES', '<pre>');
    define('PREE', '</pre>');
    define('EOL_SYS', "\n");
    $obj = new ClassVarsManager();
    $obj->VarExport('one', 'two', 'three');
    

    Output:

    <pre>*one*
    *two*
    *three*</pre>
    

Finally, I just want to say good work. I know that you have been toiling at this task for a while now. This is such a great way to challenge yourself and learn new skills.

• Mathieu Guindon: Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat.