debug_print_backtrace

Another way to manipulate and print a backtrace, without using output buffering:

<?php
// print backtrace, getting rid of repeated absolute path on each file
$e = new Exception();
print_r(str_replace('/path/to/code/', '', $e->getTraceAsString()));
?>

If you see string arguments and parameters getting cut off like this:

#0 hook.php(324): output_notice('checkout_before...')
#1 hook.php(348): invoke_hook('checkout_before...', Array)

You can increase the maximum length of arguments and parameters in the printed trace through an PHP INI setting:

<?php
ini_set('zend.exception_string_param_max_len', 100);
debug_print_backtrace();
?>

…so you can read the full arguments:

#0 hook.php(324): output_notice('checkout_before_payment')
#1 hook.php(348): invoke_hook('checkout_before_payment', Array)

In edge cases, it might even uncover nested traces that you didn't notice before.

I like the output of debug_print_backtrace() but I sometimes want it as a string.

bortuzar's solution to use output buffering is great, but I'd like to factorize that into a function.  Doing that however always results in whatever function name I use appearing at the top of the stack which is redundant.

Below is my noddy (simple) solution.  If you don't care for renumbering the call stack, omit the second preg_replace().

<?php
    function debug_string_backtrace() {
        ob_start();
        debug_print_backtrace();
        $trace = ob_get_contents();
        ob_end_clean();

        // Remove first item from backtrace as it's this function which
        // is redundant.
        $trace = preg_replace ('/^#0\s+' . __FUNCTION__ . "[^\n]*\n/", '', $trace, 1);

        // Renumber backtrace items.
        $trace = preg_replace ('/^#(\d+)/me', '\'#\' . ($1 - 1)', $trace);

        return $trace;
    }
?>

If your show your error messages in HTML (with suitable safety using entities), this function won't work nicely because it uses newlines for formatting.

Here is a function that works similarly, but using <BR> tags. Insert it near the beginning of your program to add a stack to Warning output only, or modify it as you like:

// Here is code for error stack output in HTML:
function error_handler_callback($errno,$message,$file,$line,$context)
    {
    if ($errno === E_WARNING)
        echo "Stack, innermost first:<br>".nl2br((new Exception())->getTraceAsString());
    return false; // to execute the regular error handler
    }
set_error_handler("error_handler_callback");