[Resolved] echo waits until script finishes

[bsgrules]

When you echo out multiple lines and have lengthy operations in between them. Does the server send out data with each echo, or does it wait until the script is done executing to send out anything. I thought it was the former because thats why there was ob_start / output buffering for that specific purpose.

I ran the following script and the server does wait until its done? I could've sworn I've seen scripts where it echos one line at a time to the browser? Can anyone give me some clarification on this?

      echo '1';
      sleep(5);
      echo '2';
      sleep(5);
      echo '3'; 

Thanks.

[rebelo]

I think you need to use the flush() function to force the server to send output before script is completed.

[bsgrules]

Originally posted by rebelo
I think you need to use the flush() function to force the server to send output before script is completed.

Well thank you very much...Looking up that function gave me all the answers I needed.

In case anyone is interested read this.

Even the browser may buffer its input before displaying it. Netscape, for example, buffers text until it receives an end-of-line or the beginning of a tag, and it won't render tables until the </table> tag of the outermost table is seen.

Some versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer will only start to display the page after they have received 256 bytes of output, so you may need to send extra whitespace before flushing to get those browsers to display the page.

This thread is now officially resolved. Thanks man.

[rebelo]

Glad to help.