Indentation

Heredoc indentation

Heredocs and nowdocs are indented in one of four ways. Mixed indentation is enabled by default.

No heredoc indentation

Enabled when --heredoc-indent none is given.

<?php
$foo = [
    'bar' => <<<EOF
Content
EOF,
];

Line heredoc indentation

Enabled when --heredoc-indent line is given.

<?php
$foo = [
    'bar' => <<<EOF
    Content
    EOF,
];

Mixed heredoc indentation

Line indentation is applied to heredocs that start on their own line, otherwise hanging indentation is applied.

Enabled by default and when --heredoc-indent mixed is given.

<?php
$foo = <<<EOF
    Content
    EOF;
$bar =
    <<<EOF
    Content
    EOF;

Hanging heredoc indentation

Enabled when --heredoc-indent hanging is given.

<?php
$foo = <<<EOF
    Content
    EOF;
$bar =
    <<<EOF
        Content
        EOF;

Standard indentation

Code between brackets ((), [], {}) is always indented when the open bracket is followed by a line break.

Comments

The PlaceComments rule aligns comments with subsequent code unless the next code token is a close bracket or switch case:

<?php
switch ($foo) {
    //
    case 0:
        // Indented
    case 1:
        bar();
        // Indented
    case 2:
        break;
    //
    case 3:
        // Indented

        // Indented

    //
    case 4:
        baz();
        // Indented

        // Indented

    //
    case 5:
        break;
        // Indented

    //

    //
    case 6:
        qux();

        // Indented

    //
    case 7:
        break;

    //

    //
    default:
}

Hanging indentation

Hanging indentation is applied when the context of a line of code is unclear after standard indentation has been applied.

Consider this contrived example:

<?php
if (!$request->route()->isPrivate() ||
        ($request->hasUser() &&
            ($this->userHasRoute($request->user(),
                    $request->route()) ||
                $request->user()->role() === User::ADMIN_ROLE ||
                $request->user()->role() === User::EDITOR_ROLE)) ||
        Session::hasCarteBlanche()) {
    Console::log('Access granted');
}

Without pretty-php's "overhanging" indentation, more effort is required to understand how it works because the same level of indentation has been applied to adjacent lines that belong to different contexts:

<?php
if (!$request->route()->isPrivate() ||
    ($request->hasUser() &&
        ($this->userHasRoute($request->user(),
            $request->route()) ||
        $request->user()->role() === User::ADMIN_ROLE ||
        $request->user()->role() === User::EDITOR_ROLE)) ||
    Session::hasCarteBlanche()) {
    Console::log('Access granted');
}

With no hanging indentation at all, even more effort is required:

<?php
if (!$request->route()->isPrivate() ||
($request->hasUser() &&
($this->userHasRoute($request->user(),
$request->route()) ||
$request->user()->role() === User::ADMIN_ROLE ||
$request->user()->role() === User::EDITOR_ROLE)) ||
Session::hasCarteBlanche()) {
    Console::log('Access granted');
}

One solution (adopted in PSR-12 / PER) is to insert line breaks after open brackets. In many cases this is sensible, but it doesn't cover every PHP construct and isn't always desirable.

<?php
if (
    !$request->route()->isPrivate() ||
    (
        $request->hasUser() &&
        (
            $this->userHasRoute(
                $request->user(),
                $request->route()
            ) ||
            $request->user()->role() === User::ADMIN_ROLE ||
            $request->user()->role() === User::EDITOR_ROLE
        )
    ) ||
    Session::hasCarteBlanche()
) {
    Console::log('Access granted');
}

How HangingIndentation works

Using arrays as a metaphor for constructs with one or more entries that may be arbitrarily nested, the HangingIndentation rule recognises the following indentation scenarios.

.hh. represents a level of hanging indentation, and .HH. represents a level of "overhanging" indentation.

1. Standard indentation is sufficient

   [
       ___, ___,
       ___, ___
   ];
   

2. One level of hanging indentation is required

   [
       ___, ___
       .hh.___, ___,
       ___, ___
   ];
   

3. One level of hanging indentation is sufficient

   [___, ___,
   .hh.___, ___];
   

4. Two levels of hanging indentation are required

   [___, ___
   .hh..HH.___, ___,
   .hh.___, ___];
   

5. Two levels of hanging indentation are required per level of nesting

   [___, [___,
   .hh..HH..hh.___],
   .hh.___,[___, ___
   .hh..HH..hh..HH.___,
   .hh..HH..hh.___]];
   

   [[[___
   .hh..HH..hh..HH..hh..HH.___,
   .hh..HH..hh..HH..hh.___],
   .hh..HH..hh.___],
   .hh.___]
   

Overhanging indentation is also applied to blocks that form part of a continuing structure, e.g. the if block above.

Context

After finding a token to indent, HangingIndentation creates a context for it, and if indentation for that context has already been applied, the token is not indented further.

A token's context is an array{?Token, ?Token, ?Token, 3?:Token|int, 4?:int} comprised of:

• its parent (or null if it's a top-level token)
• the most recent assignment operator or T_DOUBLE_ARROW in the same statement (or null if it isn't part of an expression after an assignment or =>)
• its ternary context (or null if it isn't part of a ternary expression)
• an optional token and/or precedence value shared by any siblings that should receive the same level of indentation

The aim is to differentiate between lines where a new expression starts, and lines where an expression continues:

<?php
fn($a, $b) =>
    $a === $b
        ? 0
        : $a <=>
            $b;

There are many more examples in the HangingIndentation unit test.