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This section of the standard comprises what should be considered the standard
coding elements that are required to ensure a high level of technical
interoperability between shared PHP code.
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD",
"SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be
interpreted as described in RFC 2119.
1. Overview
Files MUST use only <?php and <?= tags.
Files MUST use only UTF-8 without BOM for PHP code.
Files SHOULD either declare symbols (classes, functions, constants, etc.)
or cause side-effects (e.g. generate output, change .ini settings, etc.)
but SHOULD NOT do both.
Namespaces and classes MUST follow an "autoloading" PSR: [PSR-0, PSR-4].
Class names MUST be declared in StudlyCaps.
Class constants MUST be declared in all upper case with underscore separators.
Method names MUST be declared in camelCase.
2. Files
2.1. PHP Tags
PHP code MUST use the long <?php ?> tags or the short-echo <?= ?> tags; it
MUST NOT use the other tag variations.
2.2. Character Encoding
PHP code MUST use only UTF-8 without BOM.
2.3. Side Effects
A file SHOULD declare new symbols (classes, functions, constants,
etc.) and cause no other side effects, or it SHOULD execute logic with side
effects, but SHOULD NOT do both.
The phrase "side effects" means execution of logic not directly related to
declaring classes, functions, constants, etc., merely from including the
file.
"Side effects" include but are not limited to: generating output, explicit
use of require or include, connecting to external services, modifying ini
settings, emitting errors or exceptions, modifying global or static variables,
reading from or writing to a file, and so on.
The following is an example of a file with both declarations and side effects;
i.e, an example of what to avoid:
<?php// side effect: change ini settingsini_set('error_reporting', E_ALL);
// side effect: loads a fileinclude"file.php";
// side effect: generates outputecho"<html>\n";
// declarationfunctionfoo()
{
// function body
}
The following example is of a file that contains declarations without side
effects; i.e., an example of what to emulate:
<?php// declarationfunctionfoo()
{
// function body
}
// conditional declaration is *not* a side effectif (! function_exists('bar')) {
functionbar()
{
// function body
}
}
3. Namespace and Class Names
Namespaces and classes MUST follow an "autoloading" PSR: [PSR-0, PSR-4].
This means each class is in a file by itself, and is in a namespace of at
least one level: a top-level vendor name.
Class names MUST be declared in StudlyCaps.
Code written for PHP 5.3 and after MUST use formal namespaces.
For example:
<?php// PHP 5.3 and later:namespaceVendor\Model;
class Foo
{
}
Code written for 5.2.x and before SHOULD use the pseudo-namespacing convention
of Vendor_ prefixes on class names.
<?php// PHP 5.2.x and earlier:class Vendor_Model_Foo
{
}
4. Class Constants, Properties, and Methods
The term "class" refers to all classes, interfaces, and traits.
4.1. Constants
Class constants MUST be declared in all upper case with underscore separators.
For example:
This guide intentionally avoids any recommendation regarding the use of
$StudlyCaps, $camelCase, or $under_score property names.
Whatever naming convention is used SHOULD be applied consistently within a
reasonable scope. That scope may be vendor-level, package-level, class-level,
or method-level.
Deprecated - As of 2019-08-10 PSR-2 has been marked as deprecated. PSR-12 is now recommended
as an alternative.
This guide extends and expands on PSR-1, the basic coding standard.
The intent of this guide is to reduce cognitive friction when scanning code
from different authors. It does so by enumerating a shared set of rules and
expectations about how to format PHP code.
The style rules herein are derived from commonalities among the various member
projects. When various authors collaborate across multiple projects, it helps
to have one set of guidelines to be used among all those projects. Thus, the
benefit of this guide is not in the rules themselves, but in the sharing of
those rules.
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD",
"SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be
interpreted as described in RFC 2119.
1. Overview
Code MUST follow a "coding style guide" PSR [PSR-1].
Code MUST use 4 spaces for indenting, not tabs.
There MUST NOT be a hard limit on line length; the soft limit MUST be 120
characters; lines SHOULD be 80 characters or less.
There MUST be one blank line after the namespace declaration, and there
MUST be one blank line after the block of use declarations.
Opening braces for classes MUST go on the next line, and closing braces MUST
go on the next line after the body.
Opening braces for methods MUST go on the next line, and closing braces MUST
go on the next line after the body.
Visibility MUST be declared on all properties and methods; abstract and
final MUST be declared before the visibility; static MUST be declared
after the visibility.
Control structure keywords MUST have one space after them; method and
function calls MUST NOT.
Opening braces for control structures MUST go on the same line, and closing
braces MUST go on the next line after the body.
Opening parentheses for control structures MUST NOT have a space after them,
and closing parentheses for control structures MUST NOT have a space before.
1.1. Example
This example encompasses some of the rules below as a quick overview:
All PHP files MUST use the Unix LF (linefeed) line ending.
All PHP files MUST end with a single blank line.
The closing ?> tag MUST be omitted from files containing only PHP.
2.3. Lines
There MUST NOT be a hard limit on line length.
The soft limit on line length MUST be 120 characters; automated style checkers
MUST warn but MUST NOT error at the soft limit.
Lines SHOULD NOT be longer than 80 characters; lines longer than that SHOULD
be split into multiple subsequent lines of no more than 80 characters each.
There MUST NOT be trailing whitespace at the end of non-blank lines.
Blank lines MAY be added to improve readability and to indicate related
blocks of code.
There MUST NOT be more than one statement per line.
2.4. Indenting
Code MUST use an indent of 4 spaces, and MUST NOT use tabs for indenting.
N.b.: Using only spaces, and not mixing spaces with tabs, helps to avoid
problems with diffs, patches, history, and annotations. The use of spaces
also makes it easy to insert fine-grained sub-indentation for inter-line
alignment.
Lists of implements MAY be split across multiple lines, where each
subsequent line is indented once. When doing so, the first item in the list
MUST be on the next line, and there MUST be only one interface per line.
The var keyword MUST NOT be used to declare a property.
There MUST NOT be more than one property declared per statement.
Property names SHOULD NOT be prefixed with a single underscore to indicate
protected or private visibility.
A property declaration looks like the following.
<?phpnamespaceVendor\Package;
class ClassName
{
public$foo = null;
}
4.3. Methods
Visibility MUST be declared on all methods.
Method names SHOULD NOT be prefixed with a single underscore to indicate
protected or private visibility.
Method names MUST NOT be declared with a space after the method name. The
opening brace MUST go on its own line, and the closing brace MUST go on the
next line following the body. There MUST NOT be a space after the opening
parenthesis, and there MUST NOT be a space before the closing parenthesis.
A method declaration looks like the following. Note the placement of
parentheses, commas, spaces, and braces:
<?phpnamespaceVendor\Package;
class ClassName
{
publicfunctionfooBarBaz($arg1, &$arg2, $arg3 = [])
{
// method body
}
}
4.4. Method Arguments
In the argument list, there MUST NOT be a space before each comma, and there
MUST be one space after each comma.
Method arguments with default values MUST go at the end of the argument
list.
<?phpnamespaceVendor\Package;
class ClassName
{
publicfunctionfoo($arg1, &$arg2, $arg3 = [])
{
// method body
}
}
Argument lists MAY be split across multiple lines, where each subsequent line
is indented once. When doing so, the first item in the list MUST be on the
next line, and there MUST be only one argument per line.
When the argument list is split across multiple lines, the closing parenthesis
and opening brace MUST be placed together on their own line with one space
between them.
<?phpnamespaceVendor\Package;
class ClassName
{
publicfunctionaVeryLongMethodName(
ClassTypeHint$arg1,
&$arg2,
array$arg3 = []
) {
// method body
}
}
4.5. abstract, final, and static
When present, the abstract and final declarations MUST precede the
visibility declaration.
When present, the static declaration MUST come after the visibility
declaration.
When making a method or function call, there MUST NOT be a space between the
method or function name and the opening parenthesis, there MUST NOT be a space
after the opening parenthesis, and there MUST NOT be a space before the
closing parenthesis. In the argument list, there MUST NOT be a space before
each comma, and there MUST be one space after each comma.
Argument lists MAY be split across multiple lines, where each subsequent line
is indented once. When doing so, the first item in the list MUST be on the
next line, and there MUST be only one argument per line.
The general style rules for control structures are as follows:
There MUST be one space after the control structure keyword
There MUST NOT be a space after the opening parenthesis
There MUST NOT be a space before the closing parenthesis
There MUST be one space between the closing parenthesis and the opening
brace
The structure body MUST be indented once
The closing brace MUST be on the next line after the body
The body of each structure MUST be enclosed by braces. This standardizes how
the structures look, and reduces the likelihood of introducing errors as new
lines get added to the body.
5.1. if, elseif, else
An if structure looks like the following. Note the placement of parentheses,
spaces, and braces; and that else and elseif are on the same line as the
closing brace from the earlier body.
<?phpif ($expr1) {
// if body
} elseif ($expr2) {
// elseif body
} else {
// else body;
}
The keyword elseif SHOULD be used instead of else if so that all control
keywords look like single words.
5.2. switch, case
A switch structure looks like the following. Note the placement of
parentheses, spaces, and braces. The case statement MUST be indented once
from switch, and the break keyword (or other terminating keyword) MUST be
indented at the same level as the case body. There MUST be a comment such as
// no break when fall-through is intentional in a non-empty case body.
<?phpswitch ($expr) {
case0:
echo'First case, with a break';
break;
case1:
echo'Second case, which falls through';
// no breakcase2:
case3:
case4:
echo'Third case, return instead of break';
return;
default:
echo'Default case';
break;
}
5.3. while, do while
A while statement looks like the following. Note the placement of
parentheses, spaces, and braces.
<?phpwhile ($expr) {
// structure body
}
Similarly, a do while statement looks like the following. Note the placement
of parentheses, spaces, and braces.
<?phpdo {
// structure body;
} while ($expr);
5.4. for
A for statement looks like the following. Note the placement of parentheses,
spaces, and braces.
<?phpfor ($i = 0; $i < 10; $i++) {
// for body
}
5.5. foreach
A foreach statement looks like the following. Note the placement of
parentheses, spaces, and braces.
<?phpforeach ($iterableas$key => $value) {
// foreach body
}
5.6. try, catch
A try catch block looks like the following. Note the placement of
parentheses, spaces, and braces.
<?phptry {
// try body
} catch (FirstExceptionType$e) {
// catch body
} catch (OtherExceptionType$e) {
// catch body
}
6. Closures
Closures MUST be declared with a space after the function keyword, and a
space before and after the use keyword.
The opening brace MUST go on the same line, and the closing brace MUST go on
the next line following the body.
There MUST NOT be a space after the opening parenthesis of the argument list
or variable list, and there MUST NOT be a space before the closing parenthesis
of the argument list or variable list.
In the argument list and variable list, there MUST NOT be a space before each
comma, and there MUST be one space after each comma.
Closure arguments with default values MUST go at the end of the argument
list.
A closure declaration looks like the following. Note the placement of
parentheses, commas, spaces, and braces:
<?php$closureWithArgs = function ($arg1, $arg2) {
// body
};
$closureWithArgsAndVars = function ($arg1, $arg2) use ($var1, $var2) {
// body
};
Argument lists and variable lists MAY be split across multiple lines, where
each subsequent line is indented once. When doing so, the first item in the
list MUST be on the next line, and there MUST be only one argument or variable
per line.
When the ending list (whether of arguments or variables) is split across
multiple lines, the closing parenthesis and opening brace MUST be placed
together on their own line with one space between them.
The following are examples of closures with and without argument lists and
variable lists split across multiple lines.
<?php$longArgs_noVars = function (
$longArgument,
$longerArgument,
$muchLongerArgument
) {
// body
};
$noArgs_longVars = function () use (
$longVar1,
$longerVar2,
$muchLongerVar3
) {
// body
};
$longArgs_longVars = function (
$longArgument,
$longerArgument,
$muchLongerArgument
) use (
$longVar1,
$longerVar2,
$muchLongerVar3
) {
// body
};
$longArgs_shortVars = function (
$longArgument,
$longerArgument,
$muchLongerArgument
) use ($var1) {
// body
};
$shortArgs_longVars = function ($arg) use (
$longVar1,
$longerVar2,
$muchLongerVar3
) {
// body
};
Note that the formatting rules also apply when the closure is used directly
in a function or method call as an argument.
<?php$foo->bar(
$arg1,
function ($arg2) use ($var1) {
// body
},
$arg3
);
7. Conclusion
There are many elements of style and practice intentionally omitted by this
guide. These include but are not limited to:
Declaration of global variables and global constants
Declaration of functions
Operators and assignment
Inter-line alignment
Comments and documentation blocks
Class name prefixes and suffixes
Best practices
Future recommendations MAY revise and extend this guide to address those or
other elements of style and practice.
Appendix A. Survey
In writing this style guide, the group took a survey of member projects to
determine common practices. The survey is retained herein for posterity.
indent_type:
The type of indenting. tab = "Use a tab", 2 or 4 = "number of spaces"
line_length_limit_soft:
The "soft" line length limit, in characters. ? = not discernible or no response, no means no limit.
line_length_limit_hard:
The "hard" line length limit, in characters. ? = not discernible or no response, no means no limit.
class_names:
How classes are named. lower = lowercase only, lower_under = lowercase with underscore separators, studly = StudlyCase.
class_brace_line:
Does the opening brace for a class go on the same line as the class keyword, or on the next line after it?
constant_names:
How are class constants named? upper = Uppercase with underscore separators.
true_false_null:
Are the true, false, and null keywords spelled as all lower case, or all upper case?
method_names:
How are methods named? camel = camelCase, lower_under = lowercase with underscore separators.
method_brace_line:
Does the opening brace for a method go on the same line as the method name, or on the next line?
control_brace_line:
Does the opening brace for a control structure go on the same line, or on the next line?
control_space_after:
Is there a space after the control structure keyword?
always_use_control_braces:
Do control structures always use braces?
else_elseif_line:
When using else or elseif, does it go on the same line as the previous closing brace, or does it go on the next line?
case_break_indent_from_switch:
How many times are case and break indented from an opening switch statement?
function_space_after:
Do function calls have a space after the function name and before the opening parenthesis?
closing_php_tag_required:
In files containing only PHP, is the closing ?> tag required?
line_endings:
What type of line ending is used?
static_or_visibility_first:
When declaring a method, does static come first, or does the visibility come first?
control_space_parens:
In a control structure expression, is there a space after the opening parenthesis and a space before the closing parenthesis? yes = if ( $expr ), no = if ($expr).
blank_line_after_php:
Is there a blank line after the opening PHP tag?
class_method_control_brace:
A summary of what line the opening braces go on for classes, methods, and control structures.