PHP Cheat Sheet

PHP cheat sheet with real commands and snippets for setup, core workflows, debugging, and production-safe automation patterns. If you are working across tools, pair this with the Nginx Cheat Sheet and Regex Cheat Sheet.

Setup and Tooling

Goal: Install and verify language toolchain

# Run php command
php --version

# Run composer command
composer --version

# Run composer command
composer init

Core Workflows

Goal: Run and build source code

# Execute php workflow
php index.php

# Execute php workflow
php -S localhost:8000 -t public

Goal: Use a practical code snippet

<?php
declare(strict_types=1);

function greet(string $name): string {
    return "Hello, {$name}!";
}

echo greet('Dev');

Testing and Formatting

Goal: Run automated tests

# Execute test-related command
vendor/bin/phpunit

# Execute test-related command
vendor/bin/pest

Goal: Run lint and formatter checks

# Execute quality command
vendor/bin/php-cs-fixer fix

# Execute quality command
vendor/bin/phpstan analyse

Automation and CI

Goal: Create a repeatable CI shell step

# Run strict shell mode for CI step
set -euo pipefail

# Install dependencies deterministically
npm ci || pip install -r requirements.txt || true

# Run tests and fail fast on errors
vendor/bin/phpunit

Debugging and Troubleshooting

Goal: Trace runtime issues

# Print runtime and package manager versions
node --version || python --version || true

# Search stack traces and TODO markers
rg "Traceback|Exception|TODO" .

# Re-run tests with verbose output
vendor/bin/phpunit -v || vendor/bin/phpunit --verbose || true

Common Gotchas

• Pin PHP language/runtime versions in local and CI environments.
• Keep formatting and linting automated to avoid noisy diffs in code review.
• Prefer explicit dependency lock files for reproducible builds.
• Write small, deterministic tests that can run quickly in pre-commit checks.
• Document compiler/interpreter flags used in production builds.

Related Sheets

• Nginx Cheat Sheet — daily Nginx commands and production-ready examples.
• Regex Cheat Sheet — daily Regex commands and production-ready examples.
• Ruby Cheat Sheet — daily Ruby commands and production-ready examples.