Problems with flushing output

[steve_green]

This code flushes the output to the browser every 5 seconds as expected:

<?php

for ($i=0; $i<5; $i++)
{
    echo '<br>'.$i;
    ob_flush();
    flush();

    sleep(5);
}

?>

but some other scripts that use ob_flush(); flush();, and which used to work properly, now don't flush the output to the browser until the script has finished running.

Does anyone know of a way to fix this?

[Staff: Warren Ashcroft]

Take a look here for a long discussion on this topic:

http://forums.redfoxuk.com/showthrea...ighlight=flush

In short, I think the problem is that output doesn't start flushing until you have a decent amount of data flowing.

[steve_green]

Thanks. I've found the problem. I was calling ob_start() in an included file, and the script works as required when that's commented out. According to the PHP manual though, ob_flush() (which I was calling) should flush the buffer when ob_start() has been called:

http://uk.php.net/manual/en/function.ob-flush.php

The script also works as required when this line has been called at the start of the script:

ini_set('output_buffering', 'On');

which I thought did the same thing as ob_start().