How to Migrate From PHP CS Fixer to ECS in 6 Steps

• Jun, 2018
• Updated Nov, 2020
• X comments
• Found a typo? Edit me

ECS is a tool build on Symfony components that combines PHP_CodeSniffer and PHP CS Fixer. It's easy to use from scratch:

composer require symplify/easy-coding-standard --dev

ECS uses standard Symfony PHP config:

// ecs.php
use Symfony\Component\DependencyInjection\Loader\Configurator\ContainerConfigurator;
use Symplify\EasyCodingStandard\ValueObject\Option;
use Symplify\EasyCodingStandard\ValueObject\Set\SetList;

return static function (ContainerConfigurator $containerConfigurator): void {
    $parameters = $containerConfigurator->parameters();
    $parameters->set(Option::SETS, [
        SetList::PSR_12,
    ]);
};

And runs as CLI command:

vendor/bin/ecs check src

But what if you already have PHP CS Fixer on your project and want to switch?

1. From String Codes to Autocompleted Classes

You use string references like strict_types in your .php_cs file. You need to remember them, copy paste them from README and copy-paste them right.

return PhpCsFixer\Config::create()
    ->setRules([
        'strict_types' => true,
    ])
    ->setFinder($finder);

That can actually cause typos like:

 return PhpCsFixer\Config::create()
     ->setRules([
-        'strict_types' => true,
+        'declare_strict_types' => true,
     ])
     ->setFinder($finder);

How to do that in ECS? Copy paste the fixer name, capitalize first letter and remove _:

Then hit the "ctrl" + "space" for class autocomplete in PHPStorm (it works even now when I write this post in markdown, nice!).

// ecs.php
use Symfony\Component\DependencyInjection\Loader\Configurator\ContainerConfigurator;
use PhpCsFixer\Fixer\Strict\DeclareStrictTypesFixer;

return static function (ContainerConfigurator $containerConfigurator): void {
    $services = $containerConfigurator->services();
    $services->set(DeclareStrictTypesFixer::class);
};

No more typos with strong over string typing.

2. From notPath() to skip Parameter

If you'd like to skip nasty code from being analyzed, you'd probably use this in PHP CS Fixer.

$finder = PhpCsFixer\Finder::create()
    ->exclude('somedir')
    ->notPath('my-nasty-dirty-file.php')
    ->in(__DIR__);

Do you need DeclareStrictTypesFixer to skip this file? Sorry, PHP CS Fixer will skip it for ever rule.

ECS solves this common case - to skip a file, just use skip parameter:

// ecs.php
use PhpCsFixer\Fixer\Strict\DeclareStrictTypesFixer;
use Symfony\Component\DependencyInjection\Loader\Configurator\ContainerConfigurator;
use Symplify\EasyCodingStandard\ValueObject\Option;

return static function (ContainerConfigurator $containerConfigurator): void {
    $parameters = $containerConfigurator->parameters();

    $parameters->set(Option::SKIP, [
        DeclareStrictTypesFixer::class => [
            __DIR__ . '/my-nasty-dirty-file.php',
            // you can add more files
            __DIR__ . '/Legacy/too-legacy-to-look-at.php',

            // or directories
            __DIR__ . '/Legacy',

            // or mask paths with fnmatch()
            __DIR__ . '/*/Command',
        ]
    ]);
};

Do you really want to skip 1 fixer for all files?

// ecs.php
use PhpCsFixer\Fixer\Strict\DeclareStrictTypesFixer;
use Symfony\Component\DependencyInjection\Loader\Configurator\ContainerConfigurator;
use Symplify\EasyCodingStandard\ValueObject\Option;

return static function (ContainerConfigurator $containerConfigurator): void {
    $parameters = $containerConfigurator->parameters();

    $parameters->set(Option::SKIP, [
        DeclareStrictTypesFixer::class => null,
    ]);
};

For all other skip options, see README.

3. From .php_cs to PHP Config

PHP CS Fixer looks for .php_cs file in the root directory by default.

And ECS looks for ecs.php

What about non-default locations or names?

From:

vendor/bin/php-cs-fixer fix /path/to/project --config=custom/location.yml --dry-run

to:

vendor/bin/ecs check /path/to/project --config custom/location.php

4. Configuring Fixer Values

From PHP configuration in PHP CS Fixer:

return PhpCsFixer\Config::create()
    ->setRules([
        'array_syntax' => ['syntax' => 'short'],
    ])
    ->setFinder($finder);

to explicit Symfony service parameters in EasyCodingStandard:

use PhpCsFixer\Fixer\ArrayNotation\ArraySyntaxFixer;
use Symfony\Component\DependencyInjection\Loader\Configurator\ContainerConfigurator;

return static function (ContainerConfigurator $containerConfigurator): void {
    $services = $containerConfigurator->services();

    $services->set(ArraySyntaxFixer::class)
        ->call('configure', [[
            'syntax' => 'short'
        ]]);
};

Nice and clear!

5. From no --dry-run to --fix option

From PHP CS Fixer:

vendor/bin/php-cs-fixer fix /path/to/project --dry-run
vendor/bin/php-cs-fixer fix /path/to/project

to ECS equivalent:

vendor/bin/ecs check /path/to/project
vendor/bin/ecs check /path/to/project --fix

6. From @Rules to imports

Do you like to use standards like PSR-2 or even PSR-12?

From @strings in PHP CS Fixer:

$config = PhpCsFixer\Config::create()
    ->setRules([
        '@PSR2' => true,
    ]);

to autocompleted set constant in PHP file in ECS:

// ecs.php
use Symfony\Component\DependencyInjection\Loader\Configurator\ContainerConfigurator;
use Symplify\EasyCodingStandard\ValueObject\Option;
use Symplify\EasyCodingStandard\ValueObject\Set\SetList;

return static function (ContainerConfigurator $containerConfigurator): void {
    $parameters = $containerConfigurator->parameters();
    $parameters->set(Option::SETS, [
        SetList::PSR_12,
    ]);
};

Give it a Try...

...and you won't regret it. Sylius, PestPHP, LMC, Shopsys and Nette did and never came back.

Did I forget a step that you had to fight with? Please, let me know in the comments or just send PR to this post to add it, so we help other readers.

Happy coding!