What are the alternative methods to echo for debugging cURL results in PHP, and why are they preferred over echo?

When debugging cURL results in PHP, using print_r() or var_dump() are alternative methods to echo. These functions provide more detailed information about the response from cURL, including the headers and body of the response. They are preferred over echo because they display the data in a more structured and readable format, making it easier to analyze and troubleshoot any issues.

// Initialize cURL session
$ch = curl_init();

// Set cURL options
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, 'https://api.example.com');
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);

// Execute cURL session
$response = curl_exec($ch);

// Check for errors
if($response === false){
    echo 'cURL error: ' . curl_error($ch);
} else {
    // Debug cURL response using var_dump
    var_dump($response);
}

// Close cURL session
curl_close($ch);