$cfg["return-output"] controls whether HObfus_end() should output obfuscated code to the browser or return it as a PHP string.

If $cfg["return-output"] is 0, HObfus_end() will output obfuscated code to the browser.

$cfg["return-output"]=0;

If $cfg["return-output"] is 1, HObfus_end() will return obfuscated code as a PHP string.

$cfg["return-output"]=1;

For example, the following code will assign the obfuscated code to a PHP variable named '$my_code':

$my_code=HObfus_end();

It is up to you how you utilize the value of the variable. You may want to save it to a file and use it at a later time.

It is very rare that you want to set $cfg["return-output"] to 1 in the configuration file. Instead, you would rather want to override it in HObfus_begin() like:

HObfus_begin(array(
  "return-output"=>1
));

The default value of $cfg["return-output"] is 0 (disabled).

$cfg["return-output"]=0;