Get the output of var_dump() for better legibility

varDump.php

<?php

/**
 * Get the output of var_dump() for better legibility.
 *
 * @param mixed $arg1..N
 */
function getVarDump() {
	$output = array();

	foreach (func_get_args() as $arg) {
		ob_start();
		var_dump($arg);
		$output[] =  rtrim(preg_replace(
				array(
					'/\]=>\n\s*/m',
					"/^(\\s*'.*' =>)\\n\\s*/m",
					'/\{\n\s*\}/',
					'/\[\n\s*\]/'
				),
				array(
					'] => ',
					'$1 ',
					'{ }',
					'[ ]',
				),
				ob_get_clean()),
			"\n")
		;
	}

	return implode(', ', $output);
}

/**
 * Format the output of var_dump() for better legibility.
 *
 * @param mixed $arg1..N
 */
function varDump() {
	echo call_user_func_array('getVarDump', func_get_args()), PHP_EOL;
}

/**
 * Like varDump(), but with the filename and line number prepended.
 *
 * @param mixed $arg1..N
 */
function varDebug() {
	$stack = debug_backtrace();
	if (isset($stack[0]['file'])) {
		static $useColor;
		if (!isset($useColor)) {
			$useColor = php_sapi_name() === 'cli' && posix_isatty(STDOUT) && strpos(getenv('TERM'), 'xterm') === 0;
		}

		static $cwd;
		if (!isset($pwd)) {
			$cwd = getcwd();
			if ($cwd !== false) {
				$cwd = rtrim($cwd, '/');
			}
		}

		echo '[';
		if ($useColor) {
			echo "\033[33m";
		}

		$file = $cwd && strpos($stack[0]['file'], $cwd) === 0
			? str_replace("$cwd/", '', $stack[0]['file'])
			: $stack[0]['file'];
		echo $file;

		if (isset($stack[0]['line'])) {
			echo ':' . $stack[0]['line'];
		}

		if ($useColor) {
			echo "\033[0m";
		}
		echo '] ';
	}

	echo call_user_func_array('getVarDump', func_get_args()), PHP_EOL;
}