PHP Recursive Linter

A simple yet powerful PHP script that recursively checks PHP files for syntax errors using php -l. It can scan entire project directories while providing detailed feedback and supporting vendor directory exclusions.

Installation

Quick Setup

Clone the repository and set up a bash alias for easy access:

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/JustinLawrenceMS/linter.git ~/php-linter

# Add this alias to your ~/.bashrc, ~/.zshrc, or shell config:
alias php-lint='php ~/php-linter/linter.php'

# Reload your shell
source ~/.zshrc  # or source ~/.bashrc for bash

Now you can use php-lint from anywhere:

# Scan current directory
php-lint

# Scan specific directory
php-lint /path/to/directory

# Scan with vendor directories skipped
php-lint --skip-vendor /path/to/directory

Features

• Recursively scans directories for PHP files
• Skip vendor directories (optional)
• Interactive mode for directory selection
• Detailed error reporting
• Shows summary of scanned and skipped files
• Lists all vendor directories that were skipped
• Provides relative file paths for better readability

Usage

Basic Usage

# Scan current directory
php linter.php

# Scan specific directory
php linter.php /path/to/directory

# Scan with vendor directories skipped
php linter.php --skip-vendor /path/to/directory

Interactive Mode

When run without arguments, the script enters interactive mode:

1. Shows current directory
2. Asks if you want to skip vendor directories
3. Asks for confirmation before scanning

Output Example

Starting PHP lint scan...
------------------------
Checking src/Controller/UserController.php... OK
Checking src/Model/User.php... OK
Checking tests/UserTest.php... ERROR

Files checked: 3
Files skipped (in vendor directories): 42

Skipped vendor directories:
- vendor
- modules/custom/vendor

------------------------
Errors were found:

File: tests/UserTest.php
Error: syntax error, unexpected ';', expecting '{'
------------------------

Error Handling

• Shows syntax errors with file paths and specific error messages
• Uses relative paths for better readability
• Clearly separates each error with dividers
• Returns exit code 0 for success, 1 for errors

Requirements

• PHP 5.4 or higher
• Read permissions for directories to be scanned

Credits

This project was developed with the assistance of:

• GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio Code
• Visual Studio Code's PHP development tools

Created in VS Code with AI pair programming.