Use of ob_start in PHP

rajamohan

ob_start() is Start to remembering everything that would normally be outputted, but don't quite do anything with it yet.

ob_start();
echo("Hello there!");
$output = ob_get_contents();
ob_end_clean();

There are two other functions you typically pair it with:  ob_get_contents(), which basically gives you whatever has been "saved" to the buffer since it was turned on with ob_start() and then ob_end_clean() or ob_flush() which either stops saving things and discards whatever was saved, or stops saving and outputs it all at once, respectively.