Many tags use a Type as part of their definition (such as the @return tag). These types differ from the official PHP definition to be able to represent all kinds of data.
A complete definition will be given of these types and what they represent in the following sections.
type-expression = 1*(array-of-type-expression|array-of-type|type ["|"])
array-of-type-expression = "(" type-expression ")[]"
array-of-type = type "[]"
type = class-name|keyword
class-name = 1*CHAR
keyword = "string"|"integer"|"int"|"boolean"|"bool"|"float"
|"double"|"object"|"mixed"|"array"|"resource"|"scalar"
|"void"|"null"|"callable"|"false"|"true"|"self"
When a Type is used the user will expect a value, or set of values, as detailed below.
The supported atomic types are either a valid class name or keyword.
A valid class name seen from the context where this type is mentioned. Thus this may be either a Fully Qualified Class Name (FQCN) or if present in a namespace a local name.
The element to which this type applies is either an instance of this class or an instance of a class that is a (sub-)child to the given class.
Example:
@param \My\Namespace\Class
@return ExceptionA keyword defining the purpose of this type. Not every element is determined by a class but still worth of a classification to assist the developer in understanding the code covered by the PHPDoc.
Most of these keywords are allowed as class names in PHP and as such are hard to distinguish from real classes. As such the keywords MUST be lowercase, as most class names start with an uppercase first character, and you SHOULD NOT use classes with these names in your code.
There are more reasons to not name classes with the names of these keywords but that falls beyond the scope of this specification.
The following keywords are recognized:
this type is commonly only used when defining the return type of a method or function. The basic definition is that the element indicated with this type does not contain a value and the user should not rely on any retrieved value.
For example:
/**
* @return void
*/
function outputHello()
{
echo 'Hello world';
}In the example above no return statement is specified and thus is the return value not determined.
Example 2:
/**
* @param boolean $quiet when true 'Hello world' is not echo-ed.
*
* @return void
*/
function outputHello($quiet)
{
if ($quiet) {
return;
}
echo 'Hello world';
}In this example the function contains a return statement without a given value. Because there is no actual value specified does this also constitute as type 'void'.
the element to which this type applies is a NULL value or, in technical terms, does not exist.
A big difference compared to void is that this type is used in any situation where the described element may at any given time contain an explicit NULL value.
Example:
/**
* @return null
*/
function foo()
{
echo 'Hello world';
return null;
}This type is commonly used in conjunction with another type to indicate that it is possible that nothing may be returned.
Example:
/**
* @param boolean $create_new When true returns a new stdClass.
*
* @return stdClass|null
*/
function foo($create_new)
{
if ($create_new) {
return new stdClass();
}
return null;
}the element to which this type applies is a pointer to a function call. This may be any type of callback as defined in the PHP manual at https://www.php.net/language.types.callable.
Unlike the php language construct is this type is a bit more extended following the static analysis tools definition of a callable. This means that phpdoc will allow you to add more information about a callable using the following syntax:
callable(int $a, string $b): boolParameters and return types are optional and MAY be omitted and do follow the same rules as the type expressions. For parameters the name of the parameter is optional and MAY be omitted.
Variadic parameters are supported and MAY be used in the following way:
callable(int ...$a): bool
callable(int...): boolThis type is not fully supported in PHPDoc 3.3.0 and earlier.
the element to which this type applies will have the value true or false. No other value will be returned from this element.
This type is commonly used in conjunction with another type to indicate that it is possible that true or false may be returned instead of an instance of the other type.
the element to which this type applies is of the same Class, or any of its children, as which the documented element is originally contained.
For example:
Method C() is contained in class A. The DocBlock states that its return value is of type
self. As such method C() returns an instance of class A.
This may lead to confusing situations when inheritance is involved.
For example (previous example situation still applies):
Class B extends Class A and does not redefine method C(). As such it is possible to invoke method C() from class B.
In this situation ambiguity may arise as self could be interpreted as
either class A or B. In these cases self MUST be interpreted as being
an instance of the Class where the DocBlock containing the self type
is written or any of its child classes.
In the examples above self MUST always refer to class A or B, since
it is defined with method C() in class A.
If method C() was to be redefined in class B, including the type
definition in the DocBlock, then self would refer to class B or any
of its children.
When the Type consists of multiple (sub-)types then these MUST be separated with the vertical bar sign (|).
For example:
@return int|nullThe value represented by Type can be an array. The type MUST be defined following the format of one of the following options:
@return arrayspecified containing a single type, the Type definition informs the reader of the type of each array element. Only one Type is then expected as element for a given array.
Example: @return int[]
Please note that mixed is also a single type and with this keyword it is possible to indicate that each array element contains any possible type.
@return (int|string)[]