PHP CS Fixer is a powerful tool that helps developers improve the quality and consistency of their PHP code. IT automatically detects and fixes coding style issues, making IT an essential tool for any PHP project. In this beginner’s guide, we will look at how to get started with PHP CS Fixer, including installation, configuration, and usage. We will also address some frequently asked questions about this popular code formatting tool.
Installation
To begin using PHP CS Fixer, you first need to install IT on your development environment. The easiest way to install PHP CS Fixer is via Composer, the popular PHP package manager. Open your terminal and navigate to your project directory. If you don’t have Composer installed, you can download and install IT from https://getcomposer.org/.
Once you have Composer installed, run the following command:
composer global require friendsofphp/php-cs-fixer
This command installs PHP CS Fixer globally on your machine, making IT accessible from any project. You can verify the installation by running:
php-cs-fixer --version
If the command displays the installed version of PHP CS Fixer, then the installation was successful.
Configuration
Before you start using PHP CS Fixer, IT is essential to configure IT according to your project’s coding standards. Create a file named .php_cs in the root directory of your project. This file will contain the configuration settings for PHP CS Fixer.
There are two ways to configure PHP CS Fixer: using a .php_cs file or using a .php_cs.dist file. The .php_cs file contains only the configuration settings specific to your project, while the .php_cs.dist file contains the default configuration settings that can be overridden in the .php_cs file. IT is recommended to use the .php_cs.dist file as the starting point.
Here’s an example of a basic .php_cs.dist file:
<?php
$name = '.php_cs.dist';
$config = PhpCsFixer\Config::create()
->setRules([
'@PSR12' => true,
])
->setFinder(PhpCsFixer\Finder::create()
->in(__DIR__)
->exclude('vendor')
);
return $config;
In this example, we are using the @PSR12 coding standard, which is a widely accepted set of rules for PHP code. You can customize the rules according to your project’s requirements.
Usage
Now that you have PHP CS Fixer installed and configured, you can start using IT to format your code. Open your terminal and navigate to the root directory of your project. To fix the coding style issues in your code, run the following command:
php-cs-fixer fix
PHP CS Fixer will analyze your PHP files and automatically fix any violations of the specified coding standards. You can also provide the path to specific files or directories you want to analyze:
php-cs-fixer fix /path/to/file.php /path/to/directory
To preview the changes that PHP CS Fixer will make without actually modifying the files, you can use the --dry-run option:
php-cs-fixer fix --dry-run
This command will output the proposed changes without making any modifications. IT can be helpful to review the changes before applying them.
FAQs
Q: Can I customize the coding standards used by PHP CS Fixer?
A: Yes, PHP CS Fixer allows you to customize the coding standards according to your project’s requirements. You can edit the .php_cs.dist or .php_cs file to specify the rules you want to enforce.
Q: How can I exclude certain files or directories from being analyzed by PHP CS Fixer?
A: You can use the ->exclude() method in the configuration file to specify files or directories to exclude. For example, ->exclude('vendor') excludes the ‘vendor’ directory from analysis.
Q: Can I automatically fix coding style issues when saving files?
A: Yes, you can configure your text editor or IDE to run PHP CS Fixer automatically when saving files. Most popular text editors, such as VS Code and Sublime Text, have extensions or plugins available for integrating PHP CS Fixer into your workflow.
Q: Are there any alternative tools to PHP CS Fixer?
A: Yes, there are alternative code formatters for PHP, such as PHP_CodeSniffer and PHP CS. Each tool has its own set of features and coding standards, so IT‘s worth exploring different options to find the one that best fits your needs.
With PHP CS Fixer, you can ensure that your PHP code follows a consistent and professional coding style. By automatically fixing style issues, IT saves valuable development time and helps maintain readability and maintainability of your codebase.
