How to Achieve Real-Time Output Flushing in PHP for Live Logs?

Output Flushing in PHP: Displaying Live Logs During Processing

In PHP, it's often desirable to display output to the user's browser as the script processes, rather than waiting for the entire script to complete. This can be useful for displaying logs or progress updates in real-time. However, by default, PHP buffers output, meaning it's not sent to the client until the end of the script.

Is 'ob_flush()' Enough?

A common approach to flush output after each echo call is to use the ob_flush() function. However, this only partially solves the problem. While it does flush the output buffer, it doesn't actually send the data to the client.

PHP or Apache Fault? Investigating the Problem

If ob_flush() doesn't work, it could be a problem with either PHP's configuration or the Apache settings. To check PHP's configuration, run the following command:

php -i | grep output_buffering

This should show whether output buffering is enabled and the size of the buffer. If output buffering is disabled, it's not the cause of the problem.

The Ultimate Solution

The definitive solution to this issue lies in setting the output buffer size to 0. This tells PHP to send output to the client immediately without buffering it.

ini_set('output_buffering', 0);

Final Thoughts

By setting the output buffer size to 0, you can ensure that output is flushed after each echo call, allowing users to view your logs or progress updates in real-time.

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