debug() to aid in your development

debug.php

<?php

/**
 * debug
 * a magical function to use in your code
 * 
 * @author  Ismo Vuorinen <https://github.com/ivuorinen>
 * 
 * @param mixed  $thing The thing you want to see
 * @param bool   $echo  Should we return or echo the output [default: false]
 * @param string $title If you need to mark your outputs
 * 
 * @return  mixed               Uses var_export to get the data out
 **/
function debug($thing = null, $echo = false, $title = '')
{
    $export = var_export($thing, true);
    
    if ($echo) {
        echo sprintf("\n<pre>%s\n%s\n</pre>\n", $title, $export);

        return true;
    }

    return $export;
}