How to setup PHP Code Sniffer in PHPStorm

First we need to include a dependency for squizlabs/php_codesniffer in our composer.json file. For example:

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

Then let’s go to our project’s composer.json file in PHPStorm, and click “Install”.

This should run composer update for us and also setup PHP Code Sniffer(PHPCS) to our project.

Once that is complete we’ll have to enable PHPCS through the settings. File > Settings > Editor > Inspections > PHP > Quality Tools > PHP Code Sniffer Validation. Let’s tick the box and select our coding standard.

Now, it should give us a line by line analysis of the coding standard violations in the editor. We’ll get a yellow underline if it violates any rules. If we hover over the line, we’ll get the exact violation message.

Congratulations! We’ve set up PHPCS on PHPStorm! Yuh-hoo!

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If you’re interested, please do check out my other series on medium:

• PHP Test Driven Development Part 1: Introduction
• PHP Software Architecture Part 1: MVC

Cheers! :)

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