PHP Code Formatter

About this PHP formatter

The engine is @prettier/plugin-php, the PHP plugin for Prettier. It reads the code into a full syntax tree and prints it back from scratch, so the original spacing barely matters: a controller crammed onto one line comes out with the same layout as a tidy one, and only the blank lines you left between statements carry over. It understands current PHP, including enums, readonly promoted constructor properties, attributes such as #[Route], match expressions, named arguments and the nullsafe ?-> operator.

Everything happens in the browser tab. That is worth knowing with PHP in particular, where wp-config.php and .env-loading bootstrap files tend to hold database passwords and salts.

Braces, quotes and indentation

• Braces has two settings. PER Coding Style / PSR-12 puts the opening brace of classes, interfaces, enums and functions on its own line, while if, foreach and other control structures keep it on the same line. This is the layout PHP-FIG recommends and the one most frameworks use. 1TBS (same line) keeps every opening brace at the end of its line, which some WordPress and legacy code bases prefer.
• Single quotes controls which quote character plain strings get. When it is off, the formatter prefers double quotes, so 'paid' becomes "paid". That surprises many PHP developers, who are used to single quotes for literals; turn the option on to keep them. Strings that contain $variables or escape sequences such as \n keep double quotes either way, because changing them would change what the string means.
• Indent in the toolbar applies too. PHP starts at 4 spaces because PSR-12 requires it; switch to 2 spaces or tabs only for a code base that already uses them.

Changes beyond whitespace

A few rewrites go further than spacing. Long-form array(...) literals are converted to the short [...] syntax. When a function call, parameter list or array no longer fits in 80 columns, it is split one item per line and a trailing comma is added after the last item, which PHP accepts since version 8.0 in parameter lists. Code that must run on PHP 7 should be checked for those commas.

Nothing is reordered: use statements stay in the order written, and blank lines between namespace, use and the class are not added for you.

Files with HTML in them

PHP only starts at <?php or <?=. Anything outside those tags is inline HTML and is passed through unchanged, so a snippet pasted without the opening tag comes back exactly as it went in. Add <?php at the top if nothing seems to happen.

Templates that weave PHP and markup together, such as WordPress theme files, are formatted inside the PHP blocks only. The HTML around them is left as written, and a short alternative-syntax foreach (...): inside a template line may be broken over several lines in ways that look odd. For template-heavy files, format the logic in a separate class and keep the template simple. Input that starts with <?php is detected automatically; Ctrl/Cmd+Enter reruns the PHP printer.

Examples

<?php
namespace App\Repository;
use PDO;
class UserRepository{public function __construct(private PDO $db){}
public function findActive(int $limit=50):array{$stmt=$this->db->prepare('SELECT id, email FROM users WHERE active = 1 LIMIT :limit');$stmt->bindValue(':limit',$limit,PDO::PARAM_INT);$stmt->execute();return $stmt->fetchAll(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC);}}

<?php
namespace App\Repository;
use PDO;
class UserRepository
{
    public function __construct(private PDO $db) {}
    public function findActive(int $limit = 50): array
    {
        $stmt = $this->db->prepare(
            'SELECT id, email FROM users WHERE active = 1 LIMIT :limit',
        );
        $stmt->bindValue(':limit', $limit, PDO::PARAM_INT);
        $stmt->execute();
        return $stmt->fetchAll(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC);
    }
}

<?php
enum Status:string{case Paid='paid';case Refunded='refunded';case Open='open';}
final class Money{public function __construct(public readonly int $amount,public readonly string $currency='SGD'){}}
$label=match($status){Status::Paid=>'Paid',Status::Refunded=>'Refunded',default=>'Open'};
$refund=new Money(amount:500,currency:'EUR');
$name=$user?->profile?->name??'guest';

<?php
enum Status: string
{
    case Paid = "paid";
    case Refunded = "refunded";
    case Open = "open";
}
final class Money
{
    public function __construct(
        public readonly int $amount,
        public readonly string $currency = "SGD",
    ) {}
}
$label = match ($status) {
    Status::Paid => "Paid",
    Status::Refunded => "Refunded",
    default => "Open",
};
$refund = new Money(amount: 500, currency: "EUR");
$name = $user?->profile?->name ?? "guest";

<?php
$config=array('db'=>array('host'=>'localhost','port'=>3306),'debug'=>false);
foreach($config['db'] as $key=>$value){if($value===null){continue;}echo "$key=$value\n";}

<?php
$config = ['db' => ['host' => 'localhost', 'port' => 3306], 'debug' => false];
foreach ($config['db'] as $key => $value) {
    if ($value === null) {
        continue;
    }
    echo "$key=$value\n";
}

Common errors and how to fix them

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