How to debug a variable in a controller class (var_dump)
OK, I'm going to be that guy. Do yourself a favour and set up Xdebug, hacks like var_dump() or var_export() are very bad practice and sooner or later you will forget to remove some of those statements and it will end up in production. Also it takes one single click to set up a breakpoint, as opposed to writing a var_dump()  or var_export() statement. Not to mention that the amount of information you can get by using a debugger is vastly more comprehensive.