php

PHP Best Practices

This document outlines the definitive best practices for PHP development within our team. Adherence to these guidelines ensures consistency, maintainability, and security across all projects.

Critical Guidelines:

1. Code Organization and Structure (PSR-12 & Strict Types)

Always adhere to PSR-12 for coding style. This includes indentation, brace placement, and line length. Crucially, enable strict typing in every PHP file.

• Indentation: Use 4 spaces, never tabs.
• Line Endings: Unix LF only.
• Closing Tag: Omit ?> from files containing only PHP code.
• File Header Order:
  1. <?php
  2. File-level docblock (optional)
  3. declare(strict_types=1);
  4. namespace declaration
  5. use statements (class, then function, then constant, grouped)
  6. The rest of the code.

❌ BAD:

<?php
namespace App\Service;
use App\Model\User;
declare(strict_types=1);

class UserService {
    public function getUser($id) { // Missing return type, no strict types at top
        return User::find($id);
    }
}

✅ GOOD:

<?php

declare(strict_types=1);

namespace App\Service;

use App\Model\User;
use App\Repository\UserRepository;

class UserService
{
    public function __construct(private UserRepository $userRepository) {}

    public function getUser(int $id): ?User
    {
        return $this->userRepository->find($id);
    }
}

2. Common Patterns and Anti-patterns

• Type Hinting: Always use scalar and return type declarations. Leverage PHP 8+ union types, intersection types, and mixed/static/never where appropriate.
• Constructor Property Promotion: Use for concise dependency injection.
• Match Expression: Prefer match over switch for cleaner, more expressive comparisons.
• Null Coalescing Operator (??): Use to simplify checks for null or unset variables.
• Attributes: Prefer native PHP attributes (#[Attribute]) over docblock annotations for metadata.