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[Testing & Quality](/categories/testing) 4. / 5. sirbrillig/phpcs-import-detection ActivePhpcodesniffer-standard[Testing & Quality](/categories/testing) sirbrillig/phpcs-import-detection ================================= A set of phpcs sniffs to look for unused or unimported symbols. v1.3.3(3y ago)32758.1k↓43.4%7[10 issues](https://github.com/sirbrillig/phpcs-import-detection/issues)[1 PRs](https://github.com/sirbrillig/phpcs-import-detection/pulls)16MITPHPPHP ^7.0 || ^8.0CI failing Since Jul 9Pushed 3mo ago1 watchersCompare [ Source](https://github.com/sirbrillig/phpcs-import-detection)[ Packagist](https://packagist.org/packages/sirbrillig/phpcs-import-detection)[ RSS](/packages/sirbrillig-phpcs-import-detection/feed)WikiDiscussions master Synced 3d ago READMEChangelog (10)Dependencies (4)Versions (20)Used By (16) ImportDetection =============== [](#importdetection) A set of [phpcs](https://github.com/PHPCSStandards/PHP_CodeSniffer) sniffs to look for unused or unimported symbols. This adds a sniff which shows warnings if a symbol (function, constant, class) is used and is not defined directly, imported explicitly, nor has its namespace imported. Warning PHP 8 changed how `use` statements are tokenized, leading to [this bug](https://github.com/sirbrillig/phpcs-import-detection/issues/52) which basically breaks this sniff. This sniff also has fairly poor performance. I don't have time with my current work to continue to refactor this sniff at the moment and I wouldn't recommend it until at least that issue is fixed. If anyone wants to work on improvements, feel free to open a PR! When code is moved around, it can be problematic if classes which are used in a relative or global context get moved to a different namespace. In those cases it's better if the classes use their fully-qualified namespace, or if they are imported explicitly using `use` (in which case they can be detected by a linter like this one). These warnings should help when refactoring code to avoid bugs. It also detects imports which are *not* being used. For example: ``` namespace Vehicles; use Registry; use function Vehicles\startCar; use Chocolate; // this will be a warning because `Chocolate` is never used class Car { public function drive() { startCar(); // this is fine because `startCar` is imported Registry\registerCar($this); // this is fine because `Registry` is imported \DrivingTracker\registerDrive($this); // this is fine because it's fully-qualified goFaster(); // this will be a warning because `goFaster` was not imported } } ``` **Note:** This sniff is a lightweight syntax checker providing a scan of the current file and it doesn't know what other files might have defined. Therefore it will warn you about implicitly imported symbols even if they're in the same namespace. It's safe to import something from the same namespace and can even improve readability, but if you'd prefer to scan multiple files, I suggest using static analysis tools like [psalm](https://psalm.dev/) or [phpstan](https://github.com/phpstan/phpstan). Installation ------------ [](#installation) To use these rules in a project which is set up using [composer](https://href.li/?https://getcomposer.org/), we recommend using the [phpcodesniffer-composer-installer library](https://href.li/?https://github.com/DealerDirect/phpcodesniffer-composer-installer) which will automatically use all installed standards in the current project with the composer type `phpcodesniffer-standard` when you run phpcs. ``` composer require --dev sirbrillig/phpcs-import-detection dealerdirect/phpcodesniffer-composer-installer ``` Configuration ------------- [](#configuration) When installing sniff standards in a project, you edit a `phpcs.xml` file with the `rule` tag inside the `ruleset` tag. The `ref` attribute of that tag should specify a standard, category, sniff, or error code to enable. It’s also possible to use these tags to disable or modify certain rules. The [official annotated file](https://href.li/?https://github.com/PHPCSStandards/PHP_CodeSniffer/wiki/Annotated-Ruleset) explains how to do this. ``` My library. ``` Sniff Codes ----------- [](#sniff-codes) There are two sniff codes that are reported by this sniff. Both are warnings. - `ImportDetection.Imports.RequireImports.Symbol`: A symbol has been used but not imported - `ImportDetection.Imports.RequireImports.Import`: A symbol has been imported and not used In any given file, you can use phpcs comments to disable these sniffs. For example, if you have a global class called `MyGlobalClass` which you don't want to import, you could use it like this: ``` My library. 0 ``` Ignoring Symbol Patterns ------------------------ [](#ignoring-symbol-patterns) Oftentimes there might be global symbols that you want to use without importing or using a fully-qualified path. (Remember that function call resolution first searches the current namespace, then the global namespace, but constant and class resolution only searches the current namespace! You still have to import things like `Exception` or use the fully-qualified `\Exception`.) You can ignore certain patterns by using the `ignoreUnimportedSymbols` config option. It is a regular expression. Here is an example for some common WordPress symbols: ``` My library. ``` Despite the name, you can also use the `ignoreUnimportedSymbols` pattern to ignore specific unused imports. Ignoring Global Symbols in Global Namespace ------------------------------------------- [](#ignoring-global-symbols-in-global-namespace) If a file is in the global namespace, then sometimes it may be unnecessary to import functions that are also global. If you'd like to ignore global symbol use in the global namespace, you can enable the `ignoreGlobalsWhenInGlobalScope` option, like this: ``` My library. ``` Ignoring WordPress Patterns --------------------------- [](#ignoring-wordpress-patterns) A common use-case is to ignore all the globally available WordPress symbols. Rather than trying to come up with a pattern to ignore them all yourself, you can set the config option `ignoreWordPressSymbols` which will ignore as many of them as it knows about. For example: ``` My library. ``` Usage ----- [](#usage) Most editors have a phpcs plugin available, but you can also run phpcs manually. To run phpcs on a file in your project, just use the command-line as follows (the `-s` causes the sniff code to be shown, which is very important for learning about an error). ``` vendor/bin/phpcs -s src/MyProject/MyClass.php ``` See Also -------- [](#see-also) - [VariableAnalysis](https://github.com/sirbrillig/phpcs-variable-analysis): Find undefined and unused variables. ### Health Score 53 — FairBetter than 96% of packages Maintenance47 Moderate activity, may be stable Popularity48 Moderate usage in the ecosystem Community28 Small or concentrated contributor base Maturity77 Established project with proven stability Bus Factor1 Top contributor holds 89.8% of commits — single point of failure How is this calculated?**Maintenance (25%)** — Last commit recency, latest release date, and issue-to-star ratio. Uses a 2-year decay window. **Popularity (30%)** — Total and monthly downloads, GitHub stars, and forks. Logarithmic scaling prevents top-heavy scores. **Community (15%)** — Contributors, dependents, forks, watchers, and maintainers. Measures real ecosystem engagement. **Maturity (30%)** — Project age, version count, PHP version support, and release stability. ### Release Activity Cadence Every ~98 days Recently: every ~264 days Total 17 Last Release 1343d ago PHP version history (2 changes)v1.0.2PHP ^7.0 v1.3.0PHP ^7.0 || ^8.0 ### Community Maintainers ![](https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/c17eab4ecec5bcaae35d25bc7bb56358b3d8c2e6e9a3f7e99d480e31260a52a7?d=identicon)[sirbrillig](/maintainers/sirbrillig) --- Top Contributors [![sirbrillig](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/2036909?v=4)](https://github.com/sirbrillig "sirbrillig (79 commits)")[![jrfnl](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/663378?v=4)](https://github.com/jrfnl "jrfnl (3 commits)")[![GaryJones](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/88371?v=4)](https://github.com/GaryJones "GaryJones (1 commits)")[![Hywan](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/946104?v=4)](https://github.com/Hywan "Hywan (1 commits)")[![rodrigoprimo](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/77215?v=4)](https://github.com/rodrigoprimo "rodrigoprimo (1 commits)")[![Augustin82](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/2370810?v=4)](https://github.com/Augustin82 "Augustin82 (1 commits)")[![yoavf](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/844866?v=4)](https://github.com/yoavf "yoavf (1 commits)")[![chrisvanpatten](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/1231306?v=4)](https://github.com/chrisvanpatten "chrisvanpatten (1 commits)") --- Tags lintingphpphpcsphpcsstatic analysis ### Code Quality TestsPHPUnit ### Embed Badge ![Health badge](/badges/sirbrillig-phpcs-import-detection/health.svg) ``` [![Health](https://phpackages.com/badges/sirbrillig-phpcs-import-detection/health.svg)](https://phpackages.com/packages/sirbrillig-phpcs-import-detection) ``` ### Alternatives [slevomat/coding-standard Slevomat Coding Standard for PHP\_CodeSniffer complements Consistence Coding Standard by providing sniffs with additional checks. 1.5k134.0M2.3k](/packages/slevomat-coding-standard)[wp-coding-standards/wpcs PHP\_CodeSniffer rules (sniffs) to enforce WordPress coding conventions 2.8k47.8M2.2k](/packages/wp-coding-standards-wpcs)[dealerdirect/phpcodesniffer-composer-installer PHP\_CodeSniffer Standards Composer Installer Plugin 601175.5M2.4k](/packages/dealerdirect-phpcodesniffer-composer-installer)[escapestudios/symfony2-coding-standard CodeSniffer ruleset for the Symfony 2+ coding standard 40611.5M301](/packages/escapestudios-symfony2-coding-standard)[phpcompatibility/phpcompatibility-wp A ruleset for PHP\_CodeSniffer to check for PHP cross-version compatibility issues in projects, while accounting for polyfills provided by WordPress. 22134.3M760](/packages/phpcompatibility-phpcompatibility-wp)[sirbrillig/phpcs-variable-analysis A PHPCS sniff to detect problems with variables. 14552.3M128](/packages/sirbrillig-phpcs-variable-analysis) PHPackages © 2026 [Directory](/)[Categories](/categories)[Trending](/trending)[Changelog](/changelog)[Analyze](/analyze)