A debug function that tells you variable name, line number, arrays, and prints to the javascript console or echos out directly.

joeDebug.php

<?php
// The Joe Debug function.  To use successfully, create a global variable called $MSDebugVar.
        // It accepts an optional string calls $testVals that can be used to pass in any values that 
        // You wish to be tested during debugging.
    // Refactor to remove the isarray and just use the built-in php isarray
    function joeDebug($testVals = null, $isJavaScript = false, $isArray = false){
        if(!function_exists('print_var_name')){
        function print_var_name($var) {
        foreach($GLOBALS as $var_name => $value) {
        if ($value === $var) {
            return $var_name;
            }// End if value
        } //End foreach
        }// End if function exists check.

    return false; // no value
} // end function print_var_name
        
        
        global $MSDebugVar;
        $backtrace = debug_backtrace();
        $last = $backtrace[0];
        $echoLine = "{$last['function']}() "; 
        
        $echoLine .= "line {$last['line']}.";
        $echoPosition = "I am at position {$MSDebugVar}. ";
        if(!$isJavaScript){
        $echoLine .= "called from {$last['file']}";
        echo $echoLine . "\r\n";
        
        echo $echoPosition . "\r\n";
            if($testVals && !$isArray){
                $varname = print_var_name($testVals);
                echo "The variable name is " . $varname . "\r\n";
                echo "The variable tested has returned " . $testVals . "\r\n";
            }
            else if($testVals && $isArray){
            $output    =   explode("\n", print_r($testVals, true)); 
            foreach ($output as $line) { 
                if (trim($line)) { 
                    $line    =    addslashes($line); 
                    echo "{$line}"; 
                    } //End if Trimline
                }  //End foreach
            }else{
                // This is the $testVals and @array
            }
        }else{
            $echoLine = trim(htmlspecialchars($echoLine));
            $echoPosition = trim(htmlspecialchars($echoPosition));
            $echoFull = $echoLine; 
            $echoFull .= $echoPosition;
            if($testVals && !$isArray){
            $testVals = trim(htmlspecialchars($testVals));
            $varname = print_var_name($testVals);
            $varname = trim(htmlspecialchars($varname));
            $echoFull .= "The variable name is " . $varname . " ";
            $echoFull .= 'values returned are ' . $testVals . " ";
            }
            if($testVals && $isArray){
            $output    =   explode("\n", print_r($testVals, true)); 
            foreach ($output as $line) { 
                if (trim($line)) { 
                    $line    =    addslashes($line); 
                    echo "<script type='text/javascript'>";
                    echo "console.log(\"{$line}\");"; 
                    echo "</script>";
                    } 
                } 
            }
            ?>
            <script type='text/javascript'>console.log('<?php echo $echoFull; ?> ');</script>
            <?php 
            } //End else
        
        $MSDebugVar++;
        return $MSDebugVar;
    } // End function.
    
    ?>