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Packagist · #408 most downloaded on Packagist
A collection of sniffs and standards for use with PHP_CodeSniffer.
Last release 2 months ago
27 Jul 2026
Ships unpredictably
gaps range from 2 weeks to 1.4 years
Nearly every release is documented
notes for 17 of 17 stable releases
Nothing withdrawn
no release was ever pulled
7 years old
21 releases · first in 2020
One column per quarter.
Composer: The minimum PHPCSUtils requirement has been updated to 1.2.3 (was 1.2.0 ). #464
PHPCSUtils requirement has been updated to 1.2.3 (was 1.2.0). #464🔧 📊 📚 New Universal.Attributes.BracketSpacing sniff to enforce a fixed number of spaces on the inside of attribute block brackets. #386 , #406 The sni
Universal.Attributes.BracketSpacing sniff to enforce a fixed number of spaces on the inside of attribute block brackets. #386, #406spacing (defaults to 0).ignoreNewlines (defaults to false).ignoreNewlines=true) and a new line is found, the sniff will verify that there are no superfluous blank lines at the start/end of an attribute block.Universal.Attributes.DisallowAttributeParentheses sniff to forbid parentheses for attribute instantiations without arguments. #387, #409Universal.Attributes.RequireAttributeParentheses sniff to demand that all attribute instantiations always use parentheses, even if no argument is passed. #387, #410Universal.Attributes.TrailingComma sniff to demand a trailing comma for multi-line, multi-attribute attribute blocks and forbid trailing commas in single-line attribute blocks and in multi-line attributes containing only a single attribute. #397, #413Universal.PHP.DisallowExitDieParentheses sniff to forbid invocations of exit/die with parentheses when no argument is passed. #399Universal.PHP.RequireExitDieParentheses sniff to demand that invocations of exit/die always use parentheses, even if no argument is passed. #398Universal.WhiteSpace.FirstClassCallableSpacing sniff to enforce consistent spacing around the ellipses for first class callables. #385spacing (defaults to 0).Universal.WhiteSpace.CommaSpacing: improved handling of commas in PHP attributes. #391, #412
*InAttributeBlock error code suffix, so in-/excluding them selectively is more straight-forward.*InFunctionCall error code suffix, same as before.Universal.OOStructures.AlphabeticExtendsImplements incorrectly displayed the "expected" and "found" names. #378
Universal.OOStructures.AlphabeticExtendsImplements incorrectly displayed the "expected" and "found" names. #378Universal.WhiteSpace.CommaSpacing could accidentally cause a fatal error if the content adjacent to the comma was a text string containing percentage signs. Thanks @westonruter for reporting! #400, #401Universal.PHP.NoFQNTrueFalseNull : fix breakage due to upstream change in tokenization. #375
Universal.PHP.NoFQNTrueFalseNull: fix breakage due to upstream change in tokenization. #375Universal.WhiteSpace.PrecisionAlignment : support for scanning JS/CSS files via this sniff is now deprecated. #367
4.x branch in anticipation of the PHP_CodeSniffer 4.0 release. #367PHP_CodeSniffer requirement has been updated to ^3.13.0 (was ^3.12.1). #361PHPCSUtils requirement has been updated to ^1.1.0 (was ^1.0.12). #361Universal.WhiteSpace.PrecisionAlignment: support for scanning JS/CSS files via this sniff is now deprecated. #367Universal.Arrays.DuplicateArrayKey: false positives for numeric strings with leading/trailing underscores. Fixed via the update to PHPCSUtils 1.1.0. #363Universal.Arrays.DuplicateArrayKey: false negatives for fully qualified true/false/null arrays keys. Fixed via the update to PHPCSUtils 1.1.0. #363Universal.WhiteSpace.CommaSpacing: wrong errorcode for comma's in closure use statements after the update to PHPCSUtils 1.1.0. #362Composer: The minimum PHPCSUtils requirement has been updated to ^1.0.12 (was ^1.0.9 ). #346
PHPCSUtils requirement has been updated to ^1.0.12 (was ^1.0.9). #346Universal.UseStatements.DisallowMixedGroupUse: the fixer could get confused when the "base" name for the group name contained a leading backslash, leading to parse errors in the fixed code. #350🔧 📚 New Universal.PHP.NoFQNTrueFalseNull sniff to forbid using true , false and null as fully qualified constants. Thanks @rodrigoprimo for reviewing.
Universal.PHP.NoFQNTrueFalseNull sniff to forbid using true, false and null as fully qualified constants. Thanks @rodrigoprimo for reviewing. #327Universal.Operators.TypeSeparatorSpacing: support for checking the spacing around the parentheses used in PHP 8.2+ DNF types. #329Universal.WhiteSpace.DisallowInlineTabs sniff will now also check for inline tabs in heredoc/nowdoc openers and between the yield and from keywords. #320Composer: The minimum PHP_CodeSniffer requirement has been updated to ^3.8.0 (was ^3.7.2 ). #298
PHP_CodeSniffer requirement has been updated to ^3.8.0 (was ^3.7.2). #298PHPCSUtils requirement has been updated to ^1.0.9 (was ^1.0.8). #298Please ensure you run composer update phpcsstandards/phpcsextra --with-dependencies to benefit from this.
🔧 📚 New Universal.CodeAnalysis.NoDoubleNegative sniff to detect double negatives (!!) and advise to use a boolean cast instead. Thanks @diedexx for re
Universal.CodeAnalysis.NoDoubleNegative sniff to detect double negatives (!!) and advise to use a boolean cast instead. Thanks @diedexx for reviewing. #277Universal.Operators.ConcatPosition sniff to enforce that the concatenation operator for multi-line concatenations is in a preferred position, either always at the start of the next line or always at the end of the previous line. #294Universal.PHP.LowercasePHPTag sniff to enforce that the "PHP" in a PHP open tag is lowercase. Thanks @fredden for reviewing. #276NormalizedArrays.Arrays.CommaAfterLast: the sniff now has two extra error codes to distinguish between multi-line arrays with the last array item on the same line as the array closer vs the last array item being on a line before the array closer. Thanks @stronk7 for suggesting and patching this. #283, #284FoundMultiLineCloserSameLine (for multiLine="forbid") and MissingMultiLineCloserSameLine (for multiLine="enforce").FoundMultiLine and FoundSingleLine error codes continue to be used for multi-line arrays with the last array item on a different line than the array closer.Universal.CodeAnalysis.ConstructorDestructorReturn : the sniff will now correctly ignore methods mirroring the class name (PHP-4 style constructors) i
Modernize.FunctionCalls.Dirname: the sniff will now respect a potentially set [php_version configuration option][php_version-config] and only report o
Modernize.FunctionCalls.Dirname: the sniff will now respect a potentially set [php_version configuration option][php_version-config] and only report on modernizations which are possible on the configured php_version. #261
If the php_version is not set, the sniff will continue to report on all modernization options.:wrench: :books: New Universal.CodeAnalysis.NoEchoSprintf sniff to detect use of the inefficient echo [v]sprintf(...); combi and recommends using [v]p
Universal.CodeAnalysis.NoEchoSprintf sniff to detect use of the inefficient echo [v]sprintf(...); combi and recommends using [v]printf() instead. #242Universal.FunctionDeclarations.NoLongClosures sniff to detect "long" closures and recommend using a named function instead. #240
The sniff offers the following properties to influence its behaviour: recommendedLines (defaults to 5), maxLines (defaults to 8), ignoreCommentLines (defaults to true) and ignoreEmptyLines (defaults to true).Universal.FunctionDeclarations.RequireFinalMethodsInTraits sniff to enforce non-private, non-abstract methods in traits to be declared as final. #243, #245
There is a separate NonFinalMagicMethodFound error code for magic methods to allow those to be excluded from the check.Universal.UseStatements.DisallowMixedGroupUse sniff to disallow group use statements which import a combination of namespace/OO construct, functions and/or constants in one statement. #241, #246
Note: the fixer will use a semi-standardized format for group use statements. If there are more specific requirements for the formatting of group use statements, the ruleset configurator should ensure that additional sniffs are included in the ruleset to enforce the required format.Universal.UseStatements.KeywordSpacing sniff to enforce the use of a single space after the use, function, const keywords and both before and after the as keyword in import use statements. #247
The sniff has modular error codes to allow for disabling individual checks.Universal.UseStatements.NoUselessAliases sniff to detect useless aliases (aliasing something to its original name) in import use statements. #244
Note: as OO and function names in PHP are case-insensitive, aliasing to the same name, using a different case is also considered useless.Universal.WhiteSpace.CommaSpacing sniff to enforce that there is no space before a comma and exactly one space, or a new line, after a comma. #254
Additionally, the sniff also enforces that the comma should follow the code and not be placed after a trailing comment.
The sniff has modular error codes to allow for disabling individual checks and checks in certain contexts.
The sniff will respect a potentially set [php_version configuration option][php_version-config] when deciding how to handle the spacing after a heredoc/nowdoc closer.Universal.Arrays.DuplicateArrayKey and the Universal.CodeAnalysis.ConstructorDestructorReturn sniffs. #251, #252Composer: The minimum PHPCSUtils requirement has been updated to ^1.0.6 (was ^1.0.0). [#237]
Universal.WhiteSpace.DisallowInlineTabs: significant performance improvement. [#216], [#217]
Universal.CodeAnalysis.ConstructorDestructorReturn: the sniff will now respect a potentially set [php_version configuration option][php_version-config
Universal.CodeAnalysis.ConstructorDestructorReturn: fixed false positive for return statements in nested functions/closures declared within constructo
:warning: Important: this package now requires [PHPCSUtils 1.0.0]. Please make sure you use --with-[all-]dependencies when running composer update. :e
:warning: Important: this package now requires PHPCSUtils 1.0.0. Please make sure you use --with-[all-]dependencies when running composer update. :exclamation:
For the full list of features, please see the changelogs of the alpha/rc releases:
Modernize.FunctionCalls.Dirname: the sniff will now correctly recognize magic constants in a case-insensitive manner. #187Nothing published for this version
:wrench: :books: New Universal.Arrays.DisallowShortArraySyntax sniff to disallow short array syntax. [#40] In contrast to the PHPCS native Generic.Arr
Universal.Arrays.DisallowShortArraySyntax sniff to disallow short array syntax. #40
In contrast to the PHPCS native Generic.Arrays.DisallowShortArraySyntax sniff, this sniff will ignore short list syntax and not cause parse errors when the fixer is used.Universal.Constants.UppercaseMagicConstants sniff to enforce that PHP native magic constants are in uppercase. #64Universal.Namespaces.DisallowDeclarationWithoutName sniff to disallow namespace declarations without a namespace name. #50Universal.Operators.DisallowLogicalAndOr sniff to enforce the use of the boolean && and || operators instead of the logical and/or operators. #52
Note: as the operator precedence of the logical operators is significantly lower than the operator precedence of boolean operators, this sniff does not contain an auto-fixer.Universal.Operators.DisallowShortTernary sniff to disallow the use of short ternaries ?:. #42
While short ternaries are useful when used correctly, the principle of them is often misunderstood and they are more often than not used incorrectly, leading to hard to debug issues and/or PHP warnings/notices.Universal.Operators.DisallowStandalonePostIncrementDecrement sniff disallow the use of post-in/decrements in stand-alone statements and discourage the use of multiple increment/decrement operators in a stand-alone statement. #65Universal.Operators.StrictComparisons sniff to enforce the use of strict comparisons. #48
Warning: the auto-fixer for this sniff may cause bugs in applications and should be used with care! This is considered a risky fixer.Universal.OOStructures.AlphabeticExtendsImplements sniff to verify that the names used in a class "implements" statement or an interface "extends" statement are listed in alphabetic order. #55
orderby property to determine the sort order to use for the statement.
If all names used are unqualified, the sort order won't make a difference.
However, if one or more of the names are partially or fully qualified, the chosen sort order will determine how the sorting between unqualified, partially and fully qualified names is handled.
The sniff supports two sort order options:
ImplementsWrongOrder - for "class implements" statements.ImplementsWrongOrderWithComments - for "class implements" statements interlaced with comments. These will not be auto-fixed.ExtendsWrongOrder - for "interface extends" statements.ExtendsWrongOrderWithComments - for "interface extends" statements interlaced with comments. These will not be auto-fixed.implements/extends statement will not be maintained.
The fixer will separate each name with a comma and one space.
If alternative formatting is desired, a sniff which will check and fix the formatting should be added to the ruleset.Universal.UseStatements.LowercaseFunctionConst sniff to enforce that function and const keywords when used in an import use statement are always lowercase. #58Universal.UseStatements.NoLeadingBackslash sniff to verify that a name being imported in an import use statement does not start with a leading backslash. #46
Names in import use statements should always be fully qualified, so a leading backslash is not needed and it is strongly recommended not to use one.
This sniff handles all types of import use statements supported by PHP, in contrast to other sniffs for the same in, for instance, the PSR12 or the Slevomat standard, which are incomplete.Universal.WhiteSpace.DisallowInlineTabs sniff to enforce using spaces for mid-line alignment. #43master branch has been renamed to stable.:wrench: :bar_chart: :books: New Universal.ControlStructures.DisallowAlternativeSyntax sniff to disallow using the alternative syntax for control stru
Universal.ControlStructures.DisallowAlternativeSyntax sniff to disallow using the alternative syntax for control structures. #23
allowWithInlineHTML property to allow alternative syntax when inline HTML is used within the control structure. In all other cases, the use of the alternative syntax will still be disallowed.Universal.UseStatements.DisallowUseClass/Function/Const: new, additional metrics about the import source will be shown in the info report. #25Universal.Arrays.DuplicateArrayKey: wording of the error message. #18Universal.UseStatements.DisallowUseClass/Function/Const: the error codes have been made more modular. #25
Each of these sniffs now has four additional error codes:
<ul>
<li><code>FoundSameNamespace</code>, <code>FoundSameNamespaceWithAlias</code> for <code>use</code> statements importing from the same namespace;</li>
<li><code>FoundGlobalNamespace</code>, <code>FoundGlobalNamespaceWithAlias</code> for <code>use</code> statements importing from the global namespace, like import statements for PHP native classes, functions and constants.</li>
</ul>
In all other circumstances, the existing error codes <code>FoundWithAlias</code> and <code>FoundWithoutAlias</code> will continue to be used.--generator=text. #17Universal.Arrays.DuplicateArrayKey: improved handling of parse errors. #34Universal.ControlStructures.IfElseDeclaration: the fixer will now respect tab indentation. #19Universal.UseStatements.DisallowUseClass/Function/Const: the determination of whether a import is aliased in now done in a case-insensitive manner. #25Universal.UseStatements.DisallowUseClass/Function/Const: an import from the global namespace would previously always be seen as non-aliased, even when it was aliased. #25Universal.UseStatements.DisallowUseClass/Function/Const: improved tolerance for use import statements with leading backslashes. #25Initial alpha release containing:
Initial alpha release containing:
NormalizedArrays standard which will contain a full set of sniffs to check the formatting of array declarations.Universal standard which will contain a collection of universally applicable sniffs.
DO NOT INCLUDE THIS AS A STANDARD.
Universal, like the upstream PHPCS Generic standard, contains sniffs which contradict each other.
Include individual sniffs from this standard in a custom project/company ruleset to use them.This initial alpha release contains the following sniffs:
NormalizedArrays.Arrays.ArrayBraceSpacing: enforce consistent spacing for the open/close braces of array declarations.
The sniff allows for having different settings for:
keywordSpacing property.
Accepted values: (int) number of spaces or false to turn this check off. Defaults to 0 spaces.spacesWhenEmpty property.
Accepted values: (string) newline, (int) number of spaces or false to turn this check off. Defaults to 0 spaces.spacesSingleLine property;
Accepted values: (int) number of spaces or false to turn this check off. Defaults to 0 spaces.spacesMultiLine property.
Accepted values: (string) newline, (int) number of spaces or false to turn this check off. Defaults to newline.
Note: if any of the above properties are set to newline, it is recommended to also include an array indentation sniff. This sniff will not handle the indentation.NormalizedArrays.Arrays.CommaAfterLast: enforce/forbid a comma after the last item in an array declaration.
By default, this sniff will:
<ul>
<li>forbid a comma after the last array item for single-line arrays.</li>
<li>enforce a comma after the last array item for multi-line arrays.</li>
</ul>
This can be changed for each type or array individually by setting the <code>singleLine</code> or <code>multiLine</code> properties in a custom ruleset.
The valid values are: <code>enforce</code>, <code>forbid</code> or <code>skip</code> to not check the comma after the last array item for a particular type of array.Universal.Arrays.DuplicateArrayKey: detects duplicate array keys in array declarations.Universal.Arrays.MixedArrayKeyTypes: best practice sniff: don't use a mix of integer and numeric keys for array items.Universal.Arrays.MixedKeyedUnkeyedArray: best practice sniff: don't use a mix of keyed and unkeyed array items.Universal.ControlStructures.IfElseDeclaration: verify that else(if) statements with braces are on a new line.Universal.Lists.DisallowLongListSyntax: disallow the use of long lists.Universal.Lists.DisallowShortListSyntax: disallow the use of short lists.Universal.Namespaces.DisallowCurlyBraceSyntax: disallow the use of the alternative namespace declaration syntax using curly braces.Universal.Namespaces.EnforceCurlyBraceSyntax: enforce the use of the alternative namespace syntax using curly braces.Universal.Namespaces.OneDeclarationPerFile: disallow the use of multiple namespaces within a file.Universal.UseStatements.DisallowUseClass: forbid using import use statements for classes/traits/interfaces.
Individual sub-types can be allowed by excluding specific error codes.Universal.UseStatements.DisallowUseConst: forbid using import use statements for constants.
Individual sub-types can be allowed by excluding specific error codes.Universal.UseStatements.DisallowUseFunction: forbid using import use statements for functions.
Individual sub-types can be allowed by excluding specific error codes.Your coding agent can read these notes before it upgrades. Set up the MCP server →