Sage - Insightful PHP debugging assistant ☯
At first glance Sage is just an effortless, pretty replacement for var_dump() and debug_backtrace().
However, it's much, much more.
For an overview of Sage's outstanding features jump to the F.A.Q.
Installation
composer require php-sage/sage --dev
download the phar and simply
Or if you prefer,<?php
require 'sage.phar';
sage('Hello, 🌎!');
Usage
sage($GLOBALS, $_SERVER); // dump any number of parameters
saged($i); // alias for sage();die;
sage(1); // shortcut for dumping trace
Function | Shorthand | |
---|---|---|
sage |
s |
Dump (same as \Sage::dump() ) |
saged |
sd |
Dump & die |
ssage |
ss |
Simple dump |
ssaged |
ssd |
Simple dump & die |
sagetrace |
s(1) |
Debug backtrace (same as \Sage::trace() ) |
--- | s(2) |
Backtrace without the arguments - just the paths |
Simple dump:
Debug backtrace:
🤯
More cool stuff Sage determines the passed variable name and as a side effect can detect all sort of prefixes to the call. Use it for some common on-the-fly adjustments to the dump output.
Examples:
~ss($var); // outputs plain text
$output = @ss($var); // returns output instead of displaying it
! sage($var); // ignores depth limit for large objects
print sd($var); // saves output into "sage.html" in the current directory
print ! sd($var); // saves output into "sage.html" while also ignoring the output depth limit!
See Advanced section below for more tricks.
Verbose versions
If you want to use Sage as part of permanent code (e.g. part of a test helper/logger/exception reporter etc), you can use the verbose way to invoke Sage:
// instead of sage()
Sage::dump('this looks way less hacky (yeah right:)');
// equivalent to sage(1);
Sage::trace();
// equivalent to ssage():
Sage::enabled(Sage::MODE_TEXT_ONLY);
Sage::dump();
// a real-life test helper:
function getVarDump(mixed $providedContext): string
{
if (! $providedContext) {
return '';
}
Sage::enabled(Sage::MODE_TEXT_ONLY);
Sage::$aliases[] = __CLASS__ . '::' . __FUNCTION__;
Sage::$returnOutput = true;
Sage::$displayCalledFrom = false;
$debugOutput = Sage::dump($providedContext);
// now reset settings to presumed defaults
Sage::enabled(true);
Sage::$displayCalledFrom = true;
Sage::$returnOutput = false;
return PHP_EOL . $debugOutput;
}
However, Sage is only a debug helper and is made with no guarantees it won't burn your house :)
Customization options
Sage is designed with the utmost care to be as usable and useful out of the box, however there are several customization options available for advanced users.
Where to store customization?
phar
version it does not get simpler:
If you use the require 'sage.phar';
Sage::$theme = Sage::THEME_LIGHT;
composer
you have several options:
If using -
Create a separate PHP config file and ask composer to autoload it for you:
Add this entry to the
autoload.files
configuration key incomposer.json
:
"autoload": {
"files": [
"config/sage.php" /* <--------------- this line */
]
},
- Put settings inside of
php.ini
:
; change sage theme:
sage.theme = solarized-dark
; always display all dump levels, almost always crashes the browser:
sage.maxLevels = 0
; set your IDE links
sage.editor = vscode
; disable Sage unless explicitly enabled
sage.enabled = 0
- Include the desired settings in your bootstrap process anywhere™.
All available customization options
Sage::$theme = Sage::THEME_ORIGINAL;
Currently available themes are:
Sage::THEME_ORIGINAL
Sage::THEME_LIGHT
Sage::THEME_SOLARIZED
Sage::THEME_SOLARIZED_DARK
Sage::$editor = ini_get('xdebug.file_link_format');
Make visible source file paths clickable to open your editor. Available options are:
'sublime'
'textmate'
'emacs'
'macvim'
'phpstorm'
-
'phpstorm-remote'
- default, requires IDE Remote Control plugin. 'idea'
'vscode'
'vscode-insiders'
'vscode-remote'
'vscode-insiders-remote'
'vscodium'
'atom'
'nova'
'netbeans'
'xdebug'
Or pass a custom string where %file should be replaced with full file path, %line with line number to create a custom link. Set to null to disable linking.
Sage::$displayCalledFrom = true;
Whether to display where Sage was called from
Sage::$maxLevels = 7;
Max array/object levels to go deep, set to zero/false to disable
Sage::$expandedByDefault = false;
Draw rich output already expanded without having to click
Sage::$cliDetection = true;
Enable detection when running in command line and adjust output format accordingly.
Sage::$cliColors = true;
In addition to above setting, enable detection when Sage is run in UNIX command line. Attempts to add coloring, but if opened as plain text, the color information is visible as gibberish.
Sage::$charEncodings = [
'UTF-8',
'Windows-1252', # Western; includes iso-8859-1, replace this with windows-1251 if you have Russian code
'euc-jp', # Japanese
]
Possible alternative char encodings in order of probability.
Sage::$returnOutput = false;
Sage returns output instead of printing it.
Sage::$aliases;
Add new custom Sage wrapper names. Optional, but needed for backtraces, variable name detection and modifiers to work
properly. Accepts array or comma separated string. Use notation Class::method
for methods.
// example, returns text-only output
function MY_dump($args)
{
Sage::enabled(Sage::MODE_TEXT_ONLY);
Sage::$returnOutput = true; // this configuration will persist for ALL subsequent dumps BTW!
return d(...func_get_args());
}
Sage::$aliases[] = 'my_dump'; // let Sage know about it. In lowercase please.
🧙 Advanced Tips & Tricks
this section is under construction :)
// we already saw:
sage($GLOBALS, $_SERVER);
// you can also go shorter for the same result:
s($GLOBALS, $_SERVER);
// or you can go the verbose way, it's all equivalent:
Sage::dump($GLOBALS, $_SERVER);
// ss() will display a more basic, javascript-free display (but with colors)
ss($GLOBALS, $_SERVER);
// to recap: s() or sage() - dumps. Add "d" to die afterwards: sd(), saged()
// preppend "s" to simplify output: ss(), ssage().
// works in combination, too: ssd() and ssagedd() will dump in "simple mode" and die!
// prepending a tilde will make the output *even more basic* (rich->basic and basic->plain text)
~d($GLOBALS, $_SERVER); // more on modifiers below
// show a trace
Sage::trace();
s(1); // shorthand works too!
s(2); // trace - but just the paths
Sage::dump( debug_backtrace() ); // you can even pass a custom result from debug_trace and it will be recognized
// dump and die debugging
sd($GLOBALS, $_SERVER); // dd() might be taken by your framework
saged($GLOBALS, $_SERVER); // so this is an equivalent alternative
ssd($GLOBALS, $_SERVER); // available for plain display too!
// this will disable Sage completely
Sage::enabled(false);
sd('Get off my lawn!'); // no effect
-
Sage supports keyboard shortcuts! Just press d when viewing output and the rest is self-explanatory, try it out! (p.s. vim-style
hjkl
works as well); -
Call
Sage::enabled(Sage::MODE_PLAIN);
to switch to a simpler, js-free output. -
Call
Sage::enabled(Sage::MODE_TEXT_ONLY);
for pure-plain text output which you can save or pass around by first settingSage::$returnOutput = true;
-
Sage can provide a plain-text version of its output and does so automatically when invoked via PHP running in command line mode.
-
Double clicking the
[+]
sign in the output will expand/collapse ALL nodes; triple clicking a big block of text will select it all. -
Clicking the tiny arrow on the right of the output will open it in a separate window where you can keep it for comparison.
-
Sage supports themes:
For customization instructions read the section below.
-
If a variable is an object, its classname can be clicked to open the class in your IDE.
-
There are several real-time prefix modifiers you can use (combinations possible):
Prefix Example print Puts output into current DIR as sage.html print sage() ! Dump ignoring depth limits for large objects ! sage() ~ Simplifies sage output (rich->html->plain) ~ sage() - Clean up any output before dumping - sage() + Expand all nodes (in rich view) + sage() @ Return output instead of displaying it @ sage() -
Sage also includes a naïve profiler you may find handy. It's for determining relatively which code blocks take longer than others:
Sage::dump( microtime() ); // just pass microtime() - also works if you pass NOTHING: s();
sleep( 1 );
Sage::dump( microtime(), 'after sleep(1)' );
sleep( 2 );
sd( microtime(), 'final call, after sleep(2)' );
F.A.Q.
symfony/var-dumper?
💬 How is it different or better than- Visible Variable name
- Keyboard shortcuts. Type d and the rest is just self-explanatory (use arrows, space, tab, enter, you'll get it!).
- Debug backtraces with full insight of arguments, callee objects and more.
- Custom display for a lot of recognized types:
- Has text-only, plain and rich views, has several visual themes - actually created by a pro designer.
- A huge amount of small usability enhancements - like the (clickable) call trace in the footer of each output.
- Supports convenience modifiers, for example
@sage($var);
will return instead of outputting,-sage($var);
willob_clean
all output to be the only thing on page (see advanced section above for more). - Compatibility! Fully works on PHP 5.1 - 8.1+!
- Code is way less complex - to read and contribute to.
- Sage came first - developed since pre-2012. It inspired the now ubiquitous dd shorthand, pioneered a lot of the concepts in the tool niche.
💬 What are the other dumpers out there
- Symfony/var-dumper
- yii\helpers\VarDumper
- Tracy
- PHP Debug Bar
- Kint - sage supersedes Kint.
💬 Why does Sage look so much like Kint? A.K.A. Why does this have so few stars?
Because it is Kint, and I am its author, however the project was **forcibly taken over ** by a malicious contributor!
Instead of fighting DMCA windmills, I chose to fork and rename the last good version and continue under a new name!
You can use Sage as a drop-in replacement for Kint. Simple.
💬 How is var_dump
- style debugging still relevant when we have Xdebug?
- In practice, Xdebug is quite often very difficult and time-consuming to install and configure.
- There's many use-cases where dump&die is just faster to bring up.
- There is no way you can visualise a timeline of changed data with XDebug. For example, all values dumped from within a loop.
- And there's more subtle use-cases, eg. if you stepped over something there's no way to go back, but with var-dumping the values are still there...
I use xdebug almost daily, by the way. Side by side with Sage.
Contributing
🎲 Prerequisites
- Install Docker Compose.
- If you're on Windows 10+ you need to use WSL2:
- Setup:
wsl --install
- Set Ubuntu as your default wsl shell:
wsl --set-version Ubuntu 2
. - All commands listed below must be run from inside wsl shell:
wsl
- Setup:
Do your changes but before committing run
docker compose run php composer build
# or (see Makefile):
make build
To compile resources and build the phar file.
Author
Rokas Šleinius (Raveren)
Contributors: https://github.com/php-sage/sage/graphs/contributors
License
Licensed under the MIT License
Hope you'll love using Sage as much as I love creating it!