CODING_STANDARDS 12 KB

123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566676869707172737475767778798081828384858687888990919293949596979899100101102103104105106107108109110111112113114115116117118119120121122123124125126127128129130131132133134135136137138139140141142143144145146147148149150151152153154155156157158159160161162163164165166167168169170171172173174175176177178179180181182183184185186187188189190191192193194195196197198199200201202203204205206207208209210211212213214215216217218219220221222223224225226227228229230231232233234235236237238239240241242243244245246247248249250251252253254255256257258259260261262263264265266267268269270271272273274275276277278279280281282283284285286287288289290291292293294295296297298299300
  1. ========================
  2. PHP Coding Standards
  3. ========================
  4. This file lists several standards that any programmer adding or changing
  5. code in PHP should follow. Since this file was added at a very late
  6. stage of the development of PHP v3.0, the code base does not (yet) fully
  7. follow it, but it's going in that general direction. Since we are now
  8. well into version 5 releases, many sections have been recoded to use
  9. these rules.
  10. Code Implementation
  11. -------------------
  12. 0. Document your code in source files and the manual. [tm]
  13. 1. Functions that are given pointers to resources should not free them
  14. For instance, ``function int mail(char *to, char *from)`` should NOT free
  15. to and/or from.
  16. Exceptions:
  17. - The function's designated behavior is freeing that resource. E.g. efree()
  18. - The function is given a boolean argument, that controls whether or not
  19. the function may free its arguments (if true - the function must free its
  20. arguments, if false - it must not)
  21. - Low-level parser routines, that are tightly integrated with the token
  22. cache and the bison code for minimum memory copying overhead.
  23. 2. Functions that are tightly integrated with other functions within the
  24. same module, and rely on each other non-trivial behavior, should be
  25. documented as such and declared 'static'. They should be avoided if
  26. possible.
  27. 3. Use definitions and macros whenever possible, so that constants have
  28. meaningful names and can be easily manipulated. The only exceptions
  29. to this rule are 0 and 1, when used as false and true (respectively).
  30. Any other use of a numeric constant to specify different behavior
  31. or actions should be done through a #define.
  32. 4. When writing functions that deal with strings, be sure to remember
  33. that PHP holds the length property of each string, and that it
  34. shouldn't be calculated with strlen(). Write your functions in such
  35. a way so that they'll take advantage of the length property, both
  36. for efficiency and in order for them to be binary-safe.
  37. Functions that change strings and obtain their new lengths while
  38. doing so, should return that new length, so it doesn't have to be
  39. recalculated with strlen() (e.g. php_addslashes())
  40. 5. NEVER USE strncat(). If you're absolutely sure you know what you're doing,
  41. check its man page again, and only then, consider using it, and even then,
  42. try avoiding it.
  43. 6. Use ``PHP_*`` macros in the PHP source, and ``ZEND_*`` macros in the Zend
  44. part of the source. Although the ``PHP_*`` macro's are mostly aliased to the
  45. ``ZEND_*`` macros it gives a better understanding on what kind of macro
  46. you're calling.
  47. 7. When commenting out code using a #if statement, do NOT use 0 only. Instead
  48. use "<git username here>_0". For example, #if FOO_0, where FOO is your
  49. git user foo. This allows easier tracking of why code was commented out,
  50. especially in bundled libraries.
  51. 8. Do not define functions that are not available. For instance, if a
  52. library is missing a function, do not define the PHP version of the
  53. function, and do not raise a run-time error about the function not
  54. existing. End users should use function_exists() to test for the
  55. existence of a function
  56. 9. Prefer emalloc(), efree(), estrdup(), etc. to their standard C library
  57. counterparts. These functions implement an internal "safety-net"
  58. mechanism that ensures the deallocation of any unfreed memory at the
  59. end of a request. They also provide useful allocation and overflow
  60. information while running in debug mode.
  61. In almost all cases, memory returned to the engine must be allocated
  62. using emalloc().
  63. The use of malloc() should be limited to cases where a third-party
  64. library may need to control or free the memory, or when the memory in
  65. question needs to survive between multiple requests.
  66. User Functions/Methods Naming Conventions
  67. ------------------
  68. 1. Function names for user-level functions should be enclosed with in
  69. the PHP_FUNCTION() macro. They should be in lowercase, with words
  70. underscore delimited, with care taken to minimize the letter count.
  71. Abbreviations should not be used when they greatly decrease the
  72. readability of the function name itself::
  73. Good:
  74. 'mcrypt_enc_self_test'
  75. 'mysql_list_fields'
  76. Ok:
  77. 'mcrypt_module_get_algo_supported_key_sizes'
  78. (could be 'mcrypt_mod_get_algo_sup_key_sizes'?)
  79. 'get_html_translation_table'
  80. (could be 'html_get_trans_table'?)
  81. Bad:
  82. 'hw_GetObjectByQueryCollObj'
  83. 'pg_setclientencoding'
  84. 'jf_n_s_i'
  85. 2. If they are part of a "parent set" of functions, that parent should
  86. be included in the user function name, and should be clearly related
  87. to the parent program or function family. This should be in the form
  88. of ``parent_*``::
  89. A family of 'foo' functions, for example:
  90. Good:
  91. 'foo_select_bar'
  92. 'foo_insert_baz'
  93. 'foo_delete_baz'
  94. Bad:
  95. 'fooselect_bar'
  96. 'fooinsertbaz'
  97. 'delete_foo_baz'
  98. 3. Function names used by user functions should be prefixed
  99. with ``_php_``, and followed by a word or an underscore-delimited list of
  100. words, in lowercase letters, that describes the function. If applicable,
  101. they should be declared 'static'.
  102. 4. Variable names must be meaningful. One letter variable names must be
  103. avoided, except for places where the variable has no real meaning or
  104. a trivial meaning (e.g. for (i=0; i<100; i++) ...).
  105. 5. Variable names should be in lowercase. Use underscores to separate
  106. between words.
  107. 6. Method names follow the 'studlyCaps' (also referred to as 'bumpy case'
  108. or 'camel caps') naming convention, with care taken to minimize the
  109. letter count. The initial letter of the name is lowercase, and each
  110. letter that starts a new 'word' is capitalized::
  111. Good:
  112. 'connect()'
  113. 'getData()'
  114. 'buildSomeWidget()'
  115. Bad:
  116. 'get_Data()'
  117. 'buildsomewidget'
  118. 'getI()'
  119. 7. Classes should be given descriptive names. Avoid using abbreviations where
  120. possible. Each word in the class name should start with a capital letter,
  121. without underscore delimiters (CamelCaps starting with a capital letter).
  122. The class name should be prefixed with the name of the 'parent set' (e.g.
  123. the name of the extension)::
  124. Good:
  125. 'Curl'
  126. 'FooBar'
  127. Bad:
  128. 'foobar'
  129. 'foo_bar'
  130. Internal Function Naming Convensions
  131. ----------------------
  132. 1. Functions that are part of the external API should be named
  133. 'php_modulename_function()' to avoid symbol collision. They should be in
  134. lowercase, with words underscore delimited. Exposed API must be defined
  135. in 'php_modulename.h'.
  136. PHPAPI char *php_session_create_id(PS_CREATE_SID_ARGS);
  137. Unexposed module function should be static and should not be defined in
  138. 'php_modulename.h'.
  139. static int php_session_destroy(TSRMLS_D)
  140. 2. Main module source file must be named 'modulename.c'.
  141. 3. Header file that is used by other sources must be named 'php_modulename.h'.
  142. Syntax and indentation
  143. ----------------------
  144. 1. Never use C++ style comments (i.e. // comment). Always use C-style
  145. comments instead. PHP is written in C, and is aimed at compiling
  146. under any ANSI-C compliant compiler. Even though many compilers
  147. accept C++-style comments in C code, you have to ensure that your
  148. code would compile with other compilers as well.
  149. The only exception to this rule is code that is Win32-specific,
  150. because the Win32 port is MS-Visual C++ specific, and this compiler
  151. is known to accept C++-style comments in C code.
  152. 2. Use K&R-style. Of course, we can't and don't want to
  153. force anybody to use a style he or she is not used to, but,
  154. at the very least, when you write code that goes into the core
  155. of PHP or one of its standard modules, please maintain the K&R
  156. style. This applies to just about everything, starting with
  157. indentation and comment styles and up to function declaration
  158. syntax. Also see Indentstyle.
  159. Indentstyle: http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/I/indent-style.html
  160. 3. Be generous with whitespace and braces. Keep one empty line between the
  161. variable declaration section and the statements in a block, as well as
  162. between logical statement groups in a block. Maintain at least one empty
  163. line between two functions, preferably two. Always prefer::
  164. if (foo) {
  165. bar;
  166. }
  167. to:
  168. if(foo)bar;
  169. 4. When indenting, use the tab character. A tab is expected to represent
  170. four spaces. It is important to maintain consistency in indenture so
  171. that definitions, comments, and control structures line up correctly.
  172. 5. Preprocessor statements (#if and such) MUST start at column one. To
  173. indent preprocessor directives you should put the # at the beginning
  174. of a line, followed by any number of whitespace.
  175. Testing
  176. -------
  177. 1. Extensions should be well tested using *.phpt tests. Read about that
  178. in README.TESTING.
  179. Documentation and Folding Hooks
  180. -------------------------------
  181. In order to make sure that the online documentation stays in line with
  182. the code, each user-level function should have its user-level function
  183. prototype before it along with a brief one-line description of what the
  184. function does. It would look like this::
  185. /* {{{ proto int abs(int number)
  186. Returns the absolute value of the number */
  187. PHP_FUNCTION(abs)
  188. {
  189. ...
  190. }
  191. /* }}} */
  192. The {{{ symbols are the default folding symbols for the folding mode in
  193. Emacs and vim (set fdm=marker). Folding is very useful when dealing with
  194. large files because you can scroll through the file quickly and just unfold
  195. the function you wish to work on. The }}} at the end of each function marks
  196. the end of the fold, and should be on a separate line.
  197. The "proto" keyword there is just a helper for the doc/genfuncsummary script
  198. which generates a full function summary. Having this keyword in front of the
  199. function prototypes allows us to put folds elsewhere in the code without
  200. messing up the function summary.
  201. Optional arguments are written like this::
  202. /* {{{ proto object imap_header(int stream_id, int msg_no [, int from_length [, int subject_length [, string default_host]]])
  203. Returns a header object with the defined parameters */
  204. And yes, please keep the prototype on a single line, even if that line
  205. is massive.
  206. New and Experimental Functions
  207. -----------------------------------
  208. To reduce the problems normally associated with the first public
  209. implementation of a new set of functions, it has been suggested
  210. that the first implementation include a file labeled 'EXPERIMENTAL'
  211. in the function directory, and that the functions follow the
  212. standard prefixing conventions during their initial implementation.
  213. The file labelled 'EXPERIMENTAL' should include the following
  214. information::
  215. Any authoring information (known bugs, future directions of the module).
  216. Ongoing status notes which may not be appropriate for Git comments.
  217. In general new features should go to PECL or experimental branches until
  218. there are specific reasons for directly adding it to the core distribution.
  219. Aliases & Legacy Documentation
  220. -----------------------------------
  221. You may also have some deprecated aliases with close to duplicate
  222. names, for example, somedb_select_result and somedb_selectresult. For
  223. documentation purposes, these will only be documented by the most
  224. current name, with the aliases listed in the documentation for
  225. the parent function. For ease of reference, user-functions with
  226. completely different names, that alias to the same function (such as
  227. highlight_file and show_source), will be separately documented. The
  228. proto should still be included, describing which function is aliased.
  229. Backwards compatible functions and names should be maintained as long
  230. as the code can be reasonably be kept as part of the codebase. See
  231. /phpdoc/README for more information on documentation.