## About

PHP_CodeSniffer is a set of two PHP scripts; the main `phpcs` script that tokenizes PHP, JavaScript and CSS files to
detect violations of a defined coding standard, and a second `phpcbf` script to automatically correct coding standard
violations. PHP_CodeSniffer is an essential development tool that ensures your code remains clean and consistent.

[![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/squizlabs/PHP_CodeSniffer.svg?branch=phpcs-fixer)](https://travis-ci.org/squizlabs/PHP_CodeSniffer) [![Code consistency](http://squizlabs.github.io/PHP_CodeSniffer/analysis/squizlabs/PHP_CodeSniffer/grade.svg)](http://squizlabs.github.io/PHP_CodeSniffer/analysis/squizlabs/PHP_CodeSniffer) [![Join the chat at https://gitter.im/squizlabs/PHP_CodeSniffer](https://badges.gitter.im/Join%20Chat.svg)](https://gitter.im/squizlabs/PHP_CodeSniffer?utm_source=badge&utm_medium=badge&utm_campaign=pr-badge&utm_content=badge)

## Requirements

PHP_CodeSniffer requires PHP version 5.4.0 or greater, although individual sniffs may have additional requirements such
as external applications and scripts. See
the [Configuration Options manual page](https://github.com/squizlabs/PHP_CodeSniffer/wiki/Configuration-Options) for a
list of these requirements.

If you're using PHP_CodeSniffer as part of a team, or you're running it on
a [CI](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuous_integration) server, you may want to configure your project's
settings [using a configuration file](https://github.com/squizlabs/PHP_CodeSniffer/wiki/Advanced-Usage#using-a-default-configuration-file).

## Installation

The easiest way to get started with PHP_CodeSniffer is to download the Phar files for each of the commands:

```
# Download using curl
curl -OL https://squizlabs.github.io/PHP_CodeSniffer/phpcs.phar
curl -OL https://squizlabs.github.io/PHP_CodeSniffer/phpcbf.phar

# Or download using wget
wget https://squizlabs.github.io/PHP_CodeSniffer/phpcs.phar
wget https://squizlabs.github.io/PHP_CodeSniffer/phpcbf.phar

# Then test the downloaded PHARs
php phpcs.phar -h
php phpcbf.phar -h
```

### Composer

If you use Composer, you can install PHP_CodeSniffer system-wide with the following command:

    composer global require "squizlabs/php_codesniffer=*"

Make sure you have the composer bin dir in your PATH. The default value is `~/.composer/vendor/bin/`, but you can check
the value that you need to use by running `composer global config bin-dir --absolute`.

Or alternatively, include a dependency for `squizlabs/php_codesniffer` in your `composer.json` file. For example:

```json
{
    "require-dev": {
        "squizlabs/php_codesniffer": "3.*"
    }
}
```

You will then be able to run PHP_CodeSniffer from the vendor bin directory:

    ./vendor/bin/phpcs -h
    ./vendor/bin/phpcbf -h

### Phive

If you use Phive, you can install PHP_CodeSniffer as a project tool using the following commands:

    phive install phpcs
    phive install phpcbf

You will then be able to run PHP_CodeSniffer from the tools directory:

    ./tools/phpcs -h
    ./tools/phpcbf -h

### PEAR

If you use PEAR, you can install PHP_CodeSniffer using the PEAR installer. This will make the `phpcs` and `phpcbf`
commands immediately available for use. To install PHP_CodeSniffer using the PEAR installer, first ensure you
have [installed PEAR](http://pear.php.net/manual/en/installation.getting.php) and then run the following command:

    pear install PHP_CodeSniffer

### Git Clone

You can also download the PHP_CodeSniffer source and run the `phpcs` and `phpcbf` commands directly from the Git clone:

    git clone https://github.com/squizlabs/PHP_CodeSniffer.git
    cd PHP_CodeSniffer
    php bin/phpcs -h
    php bin/phpcbf -h

## Getting Started

The default coding standard used by PHP_CodeSniffer is the PEAR coding standard. To check a file against the PEAR coding
standard, simply specify the file's location:

    $ phpcs /path/to/code/myfile.php

Or if you wish to check an entire directory you can specify the directory location instead of a file.

    $ phpcs /path/to/code-directory

If you wish to check your code against the PSR-2 coding standard, use the `--standard` command line argument:

    $ phpcs --standard=PSR2 /path/to/code-directory

If PHP_CodeSniffer finds any coding standard errors, a report will be shown after running the command.

Full usage information and example reports are available on
the [usage page](https://github.com/squizlabs/PHP_CodeSniffer/wiki/Usage).

## Documentation

The documentation for PHP_CodeSniffer is available on
the [Github wiki](https://github.com/squizlabs/PHP_CodeSniffer/wiki).

## Issues

Bug reports and feature requests can be submitted on
the [Github Issue Tracker](https://github.com/squizlabs/PHP_CodeSniffer/issues).

## Contributing

See [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md) for information.

## Versioning

PHP_CodeSniffer uses a `MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH` version number format.

The `MAJOR` version is incremented when:

- backwards-incompatible changes are made to how the `phpcs` or `phpcbf` commands are used, or
- backwards-incompatible changes are made to the `ruleset.xml` format, or
- backwards-incompatible changes are made to the API used by sniff developers, or
- custom PHP_CodeSniffer token types are removed, or
- existing sniffs are removed from PHP_CodeSniffer entirely

The `MINOR` version is incremented when:

- new backwards-compatible features are added to the `phpcs` and `phpcbf` commands, or
- backwards-compatible changes are made to the `ruleset.xml` format, or
- backwards-compatible changes are made to the API used by sniff developers, or
- new sniffs are added to an included standard, or
- existing sniffs are removed from an included standard

> NOTE: Backwards-compatible changes to the API used by sniff developers will allow an existing sniff to continue
> running without producing fatal errors but may not result in the sniff reporting the same errors as it did previously
> without changes being required.

The `PATCH` version is incremented when:

- backwards-compatible bug fixes are made

> NOTE: As PHP_CodeSniffer exists to report and fix issues, most bugs are the result of coding standard errors being
> incorrectly reported or coding standard errors not being reported when they should be. This means that the messages
> produced by PHP_CodeSniffer, and the fixes it makes, are likely to be different between PATCH versions.