Laravel Command Output Buffer

A trait for buffering Artisan Command Output in Laravel. Inspired by PHP's ob_start() / ob_flush().

Use cases:

• Conditional output — accumulate output during command execution, then decide to show it (flush) or discard it (clean) based on the result
• Deferred output — collect output and display it all at once at the right moment

Installation

composer require skulich/laravel-command-output-buffer

Usage

Add the OutputBuffer trait to your Artisan command:

use Illuminate\Console\Command;
use SKulich\LaravelCommandOutputBuffer\Console\Concerns\OutputBuffer;

class ProcessDataCommand extends Command
{
    use OutputBuffer;

    protected $signature = 'app:process-data';

    public function handle(): int
    {
        $this->obStart();

        $this->line('Processing item 1...');
        $this->line('Processing item 2...');
        $this->v('Verbose detail');

        if ($this->hasErrors()) {
            $this->obFlush();  // show accumulated output — something went wrong

            return self::FAILURE;
        }

        $this->obClean();  // discard output — all ok

        return self::SUCCESS;
    }
}

Deferred output

Pass a variable to obStart() to auto-flush when it goes out of scope:

public function handle(): int
{
    $this->obStart($defer);

    $this->info('Step 1 done');
    $this->info('Step 2 done');

    return self::SUCCESS;
    // buffer is automatically flushed here when $defer is destroyed
}

API

All ob* methods are protected — they are meant to be called from within the command itself.

The line() method is automatically intercepted — when buffering is active, output goes to the buffer instead of the console.

Tests

Run the entire test suite:

composer test

Changelog

Please see CHANGELOG for more information.

Contributing

Please see CONTRIBUTING for more information.

License

The MIT License (MIT). Please see LICENSE for more information.