Xdebug with PHP is a lifesaver

Obscerno@lemm.ee to Programming@programming.dev – 25 points –

I have no idea how I managed to program in PHP for years without Xdebug. Now when an error occurs, it just pops up in my IDE, and I can set breakpoints and see ALL of the local variables including the ones set in the higher up scripts. It makes debugging sooooo much easier.

I feel kind of silly for not assuming a tool like this existed and hunting for it. I'll never write a var_debug() again. I wonder what other absolutely vital tools are out there that I'm just completely oblivious to.

6

Just wait until you learn that you can debug sql queries the same way in most rdbms admin tools.

WHAT?

Just wait until you learn that debuggers for XSLT exists. Wait, that's no reason to smile.

Lol, I have my favorite file_put_contents line for debugging php, but being able to step through code would be great. What's your setup? Last time I tried I couldn't get xdebug working on win server + apache.

I'm on Ubuntu, but from what I remember to get it working in my local environment I just:

  • Installed the module.
  • Added the following to the php.ini file:
    [xdebug]
    zend_extension=xdebug
    xdebug.mode = debug
    xdebug.start_with_request = yes
  • Restarted the apache server.
  • Installed the PHP Debug extension for Visual Studio Code.

And now I just hit F5 and select "Listen for Xdebug" and I'm ready to go.

You just saved thousands of php developers' lives