Question

Is there any way to check if an included document via include('to_include.php') has returned anything?

This is how it looks:

//to_include.php
echo function_that_generates_some_html_sometimes_but_not_all_the_times();

//main_document.php
include('to_include.php');
if($the_return_of_the_include != '') { 
    echo $do_a_little_dance_make_a_little_love_get_down_tonight; 
}

So after I’ve included to_include.php in my main document I would like to check if anything was generated by the included document.

I know the obvious solution would be to just use function_that_generates_some_html_sometimes_but_not_all_the_times() in the main_document.php, but that’s not possible in my current setup.

Answer 1

make function_that_generates_some_html_sometimes_but_not_all_the_times() return something when it outputs something and set a variable:

//to_include.php
$ok=function_that_generates_some_html_sometimes_but_not_all_the_times();

//main_document.php
$ok='';
include('to_include.php');
if($ok != '') { 
    echo $do_a_little_dance_make_a_little_love_get_down_tonight; 
}