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How to evaluate/store JS/HTML code into a PHP variable instead of displaying it?

August 13, 2023

I have a PHP file paypal.php.

<script src="https://www.paypal.com/sdk/js?client-id=<?php echo get_paypal('client-id'); ?>&vault=true&intent=subscription" data-sdk-integration-source="button-factory"></script>
<script>
paypal.Buttons({
    // ...
}).render('#paypal-button-container-<?php echo get_paypal('plan-id'); ?>');

I want to evaluate paypal.php in another php file and store the evaluation result in a variable and then output it to the user at later time.

Using this approach

$content = eval('?>' . file_get_contents('paypal.php') . '<?php');

the script tag is being echo-ed and the javascript is executed in the browser. But I do not want it to be echo-ed. I just want to keep the result for further processing.

How can I avoid echo-ing the evaluation result and just store the result in a variable?

>Solution :

To store some content in a PHP variable before it’s displayed, you can use PHP buffering functions ob_start() and ob_get_clean() as follows:

<?php 
    ob_start(); // Start buffering 
?>
<script src="https://www.paypal.com/sdk/js?client-id=<?php echo get_paypal('client-id'); ?>&vault=true&intent=subscription" data-sdk-integration-source="button-factory"></script>
<script>
paypal.Buttons({
    // ...
}).render('#paypal-button-container-<?php echo get_paypal('plan-id'); ?>');
<?php 
// We can now store the buffered content in a variable
$buffered_content = ob_get_clean(); 
?>