Create a custom debugging function

To aid in the dumping of variables, we can create a simple debugging function that will wrap our output in <pre> tags and automatically exit for us.

Place the following code at the top of /config/site_post.php (create the file if it does not exist):

function my_debug($var) {
  echo '<pre>';
  print_r($var);
  echo '</pre>';
  exit;
}

Now, when we wish to inspect the contents of a variable or other object, we can simply call my_debug($variable), and get a nicely formatted, easy to read response.

Of course, you are more than welcome to use your own techniques for debugging variables.