phpcs(1)

🌸 phpcs — PHP code sniffer CLI tool 🌸

okay bestie, pull up a chair, because this is the manual page for phpcs, aka the PHP_CodeSniffer command line tool. yes the manual calls itself "General Commands Manual" up top, we're just not doing that energy here. let's go 💅

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

phpcs [-nwlsaepqvi] [-d key[=value]] [--colors] [--no-colors]
[--cache=cacheFile] [--no-cache] [--tab-width=tabWidth]
[--report=report] [--report-file=reportFile]
[--report-report=reportFile] [--report-width=reportWidth]
[--basepath=basepath] [--bootstrap=bootstrap] [--severity=severity]
[--error-severity=severity] [--warning-severity=severity] [--runtime-set
key value] [--config-set key value] [--config-delete key]
[--config-show] [--standard=standard] [--sniffs=sniffs]
[--exclude=sniffs] [--encoding=encoding] [--parallel=processes]
[--generator=generator] [--extensions=extensions [--ignore=patterns]
[--ignore-annotations] [--stdin-path=stdinPath] [--file-list=fileList]
[--filter=filter] file ...

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💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

phpcs (or PHP_CodeSniffer) is a PHP5 script that tokenises PHP, JavaScript and CSS files so it can sniff out violations of a coding standard you picked. it's literally an essential dev tool — it keeps your code clean and consistent, no cap. it can also help prevent some common semantic errors that developers make. we love a tool that has your back 🫶

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🎀 PARAMETERS 🎀

these are the lil placeholders that go in all those = slots. here's the whole list, every single one:

• cacheFile — use a specific file for caching (by default it just uses a temporary file, very low maintenance of it)
• basepath — a path to strip from the front of file paths inside reports
• bootstrap — a comma separated list of files to run before processing starts
• encoding — the encoding of the files being checked (default is iso-8859-1)
• extensions — a comma separated list of file extensions to check. you can specify the type of the file using ext/type, e.g., module/php,es/js
• file — one or more files and/or directories to check
• fileList — a file containing a list of files and/or directories to check (one per line, bestie, ONE per line)
• filter — use either the "gitmodified" or "gitstaged" filter, or specify the path to a custom filter class
• generator — use either the "HTML", "Markdown" or "Text" generator (this forces documentation generation instead of checking, heads up)
• patterns — a comma separated list of patterns to ignore files and directories
• processes — how many files should be checked simultaneously (default is 1)
• report — print either the full, xml, checkstyle, csv, json, junit, emacs, source, summary, diff, svnblame, gitblame, hgblame, or notifysend report, or specify the path to a custom report class (the full report is printed by default)
• reportFile — write the report to the specified file path
• reportWidth — how many columns wide screen reports should be printed, or set to "auto" to use current screen width, where supported
• severity — the minimum severity required to display an error or warning
• sniffs — a comma separated list of sniff codes to include or exclude during checking (all sniffs must be part of the specified standard, okurrr)
• standard — the name or path of the coding standard to use
• stdinPath — if processing STDIN, the file path that STDIN will be processed as
• tabWidth — the number of spaces each tab represents

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👑 OPTION 👑

the actual flags, in the exact order the page gives them. buckle up, it's a long list and we're not skipping a single one:

• -n — do not print warnings (shortcut for --warning-severity=0)
• -w — print both warnings and errors (this is the default)
• -l — local directory only, no recursion
• -s — show sniff codes in all reports
• -a — run interactively
• -e — explain a standard by showing the sniffs it includes
• -p — show progress of the run
• -q — quiet mode; disables progress and verbose output
• -n — stop error messages from being recorded (saves a lot of memory, but stops many reports from being used)

ok so real talk: yes, -n shows up twice in this list with two completely different jobs. that's exactly what the page says, we're just reporting the news. lowkey iconic, highkey confusing 🫠

• -v — print processed files
• -vv — print ruleset and token output
• -vvv — print sniff processing information
• -i — show a list of installed coding standards
• -d — set the key php.ini value to value or true if value is omitted
• --help — print the help message
• --version — print version information
• --colors — use colors in output
• --no-colors — do not use colors in output (this is the default)
• --cache — cache results between runs
• --no-cache — do not cache results between runs (this is the default)
• --ignore-annotations — ignore all phpcs: annotations in code comments

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🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

• phpcbf(1) — its sibling, the fixer-upper 🧚

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and that's the whole page, bestie!! no detail left behind, every flag accounted for, vibe check passed with flying colors 🌈 this manual page is dated 2018-02-27 and belongs to the phpcs(1) family — mwah, kiss the manual, go run a sniff on your codebase, and slay 💅💖✨