Question: I have this code for example:

```
ob_start();
echo "hello there";
$output = ob_get_contents();
return $output;

```

When I run it, I get back:

```
hello there

```

But how can I get back 

```
echo "hello there";

```

Is there a way to do this easily?

Answer: 
To output arbitrary text as-is you can close the PHP script and then reopen it. Anything between the closing and opening tags is output as-is

```
ob_start();
?>echo "hello there";
<?php
$output = ob_get_contents();
return $output;

```
`ob_get_contents` will return the echoed output, so you can't use it to show actual code.

To simply print out code, I would try this:

```
$code = file_get_contents('your_code.php');
echo "<pre>{$code}</pre>";

```

Also you can write you code separatle as text and echo it or eval (if you need execution).

```
$string = 'cup';
$name = 'coffee';
$str = 'This is a $string with my $name in it.';
echo $str. "\n";
eval("\$str = \"$str\";");
echo $str. "\n";

```

result:

```
This is a $string with my $name in it.
This is a cup with my coffee in it.

```