Replace var_dump with a custom function in PHP

Question

I wonder if it is possible to replace var_dump with some user defined function. I know that you can use any kind of dumping functions of various modules, or some wrappers. But what I want to achieve is that anyone in my project who uses "var_dump", gets my new function, without "knowing" it and without the need to use a different syntax. Simply override the funcion. Thanks

Answer 1

PHP doesn't support re-declaring functions AFAIK. However there's a little trick you can do on a case specific basis.

Say you have this code in a file:

 var_dump($a);
 var_dump($b);
 var_dump($c); 

You can just wrap this in a namespace like so:

namespace OverridingGlobalNamespace {
    function var_dump($_) {
          echo "My custom var_dump";
    }

   var_dump($a); //Will use namespace function instead of PHP function
   var_dump($b);
   var_dump($c); 
}