What role does the ob_start() function play in redirecting function output to a variable in PHP?

To redirect function output to a variable in PHP, you can use the ob_start() function to turn on output buffering. This function will capture all output, including HTML, generated by functions or scripts that follow it. You can then use ob_get_clean() to retrieve the buffered output as a string and store it in a variable for further processing or manipulation.

ob_start(); // Turn on output buffering
// Your function or script generating output here
$output = ob_get_clean(); // Retrieve buffered output and store it in a variable