eval results to string?

I've seen this question asked before, but I can't find any answers. Is there any way to parse a php file into a variable? The solution would seem to lie with eval(), but it doesn't work quite right. I have a file with perfectly reasonable php code in it (full of php tags and html - call it core.php). The php file that is called by the web browser (called wrapper.php) contains lots of post variables - these are needed and used by core.php. So just a call to eval right? Well eval evaluates it properly, but also insists on dumping it to stdout, while neglecting to place it in the variable. Anyone found a way to do this? BTW, what I'm trying to do is take some form data (it's several big, complex, forms) and email someone an html version of the form with the answers filled out. It's so close, but it seems to be hung up on this problem. The form itself is in a separate file, with php that evaluates to nothing if no post vars are present, but fills in if the vars happen to be there. This seems like an elegant way to do it (I can change the form and it's embedded php around easily and nothing breaks), but it doesn't work. The only other alternative that I can see is to do search and replaces throughout the form from wrapper.php, but this is a very hard coded solution (changes in the form require changes in wrapper.php). Is there no way to get the results of eval() to go anywhere (ie a file or a variable) other than stdout?? Thanks for any insight, Julian -- Julian Wood Learning Technologies and Digital Media University of Calgary