How to make an included php file a variable

I would like to make a php file i have a part of a variable i'm building.

ie

$print = 'something';
$print .=  incl开发者_如何学Cude('register_form.php');

print $print;

However this doesn't work. register_form.php will be not be included in the $print var, and will be echo'd out before the start of the print out.

Is there a way to achieve this?

I know I could go into register_form.php and make it all a function like register_form() and return its output, however, due to the way I've structured this (and i'm a bit of a newb) this would create more headaches then if I could merely do the above attempt.

Thanks for any pointers!

You can do this instead through output buffering.

ob_start();
include('register_form.php');
$print = ob_get_contents();
ob_end_clean();


echo $print;

Another option is file_get_contents($filename);

Reads the entire file into a string.

file_get_contents

--EDIT

Sorry, just read your question a bit more properly. Output buffing is about the only way to go if you have echo statements in your php form.

A cleaner way would be to have the output form functions return the HTML so you can choose when it's outputted. It maybe a small headache but will like a lot easier in the future.

Output buffering:

ob_start();
include('register_form.php');
$output = ob_get_clean();

echo $output;

Included files can have return values. By combining this with output buffering you can achieve exactly what you want.

register_form.php

ob_start();
// content
return ob_get_clean();

Then your code will work:

$print = 'something';
$print .=  include 'register_form.php' ;
echo $print;