PHP Dump and Die

dump.php

<?php

/**
 * Debug helper function.  This is a wrapper for var_dump() that adds
 * the <pre /> tags, cleans up newlines and indents before output.
 *
 * @param  mixed  $var   The variable to dump.
 * @param  string $label OPTIONAL Label to prepend to output.
 * @param  bool   $die  OPTIONAL Die script execution.
 * @return string
 */
if (! function_exists('dd')) {
    function dd($var, $label = null, $die = true)
    {
        // format the label
        $label = ($label===null) ? '' : rtrim($label) . ' ';

        // var_dump the variable into a buffer and keep the output
        ob_start();
        var_dump($var);
        $output = ob_get_clean();

        // neaten the newlines and indents
        $output = preg_replace("/\]\=\>\n(\s+)/m", "] => ", $output);

        if (PHP_SAPI == 'cli') {
            $output = PHP_EOL . $label
                    . PHP_EOL . $output
                    . PHP_EOL;
        } else {
            $output = '<pre>'
                    . $label
                    . $output
                    . '</pre>';
        }

        echo $output;

        if ($die) {
            exit;
        }
    }
}