Good quality PHP code is consistently formatted and contains minimal misuse of the language, violations of pre-set code standards, or bugs. Clean code is high-quality, meaning that it’s reusable, maintainable, easy to test, consistent, and reliable.

PHP code could be considered unreadable or unmaintained if it contains confusing errors such as poor formatting, inconsistent indentation, and one-letter variables. Using too many dependencies could also lead to poor-quality code, as it adds complexity and potentially exposes you to function and security issues. These formatting and dependency issues can lead to confusion when collaborating with other developers, and they can cause errors that are difficult to pinpoint and fix.

A PHP code checker automates the code-checking process, saving immeasurable time and costs for an organization’s software development team. It enables them to shift security left, meaning that security and quality measures happen at the beginning of the software development cycle, rather than the end. This way, development teams don’t need to backtrack and search through poor quality or vulnerable PHP code that they wrote days — or even weeks — earlier to fix issues discovered at or near runtime.

A PHP code checker will statically analyze PHP source code and detect potential issues automatically, with the goal of surfacing issues in code quality and security. It measures the syntax, style, and documentation completeness of your source code. In addition to uncovering code vulnerabilities and quality issues, a code checker will often provide in-depth insights to help teams fix the errors inside flagged lines of code. The key to using a code checker correctly is to include it as early as possible in your secure software development life cycle (SSDLC). This facilitates shared responsibility — a DevSecOps approach — and prevents your development team from becoming overwhelmed with remediation by enabling them to code securely from the start. Many organizations use a PHP code checker to perform static application security testing (SAST). If your teams decide to go this route, it’s important to choose a tool with the following traits:

• Easily integrates into existing developer workflows

• Produces minimal false positives in scan results

• Takes a comprehensive approach to scanning source code

• Combines with linters to thoroughly check code syntax and style

• References a comprehensive database of vulnerabilities

• Checks for security issues within your team’s proprietary PHP code and open source components

• Gives actionable recommendations for remediating found vulnerabilities or quality issues

• Pinpoints the source of the issue, as precisely as possible

A PHP code checker that’s focused on security, in particular, will check your system’s configuration, semantics, data flow, and structure for any areas that do not follow security best practices or that leave open doors for attackers to leverage.