r/PHPhelp • u/i-hate-in-n-out • Aug 02 '26

Sharing Array Shapes Across Files?

Is it possible to share array shapes across files? I am working in a very legacy code base so don't have an easy way to turn this into a class, and thus am kind of stuck with arrays.

Say in file a.php we have something like:

/**
 *  @phpstan-type User array{
 *   user_id: int,
 *   username: string,
 *   email: string
 */

The in file b.php we have something like:

/**
 * @phpstan-import-type User
 */

/**
 * @param User $user
 */
function foo($user) {}

While my Intellisense in my IDE recognizes this, at the moment, phpstan at level 2 and above flags this as an unknown type.

Is there a way I can properly share array shapes across files?

6 Upvotes

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2

u/jmp_ones Aug 02 '26

The Star-Interop packages use an empty interface file with PHPStan types. For one example, see https://github.com/response-interop/interface/blob/1.x/src/ResponseTypeAliases.php

1

u/i-hate-in-n-out Aug 02 '26 edited Aug 02 '26

Thanks, this was helpful! What I learned is you have to attach the phpstan-import-type to a class or interface. You can't just have it global to a file or even to a function.

2

u/gaborj Aug 02 '26

Yes https://phpstan.org/writing-php-code/phpdoc-types#global-type-aliases

1

u/i-hate-in-n-out Aug 02 '26

Thanks. I played with this and while it works with phpstan, it doesn't work with intellisense. I found another way to do it but it has to be attached to classes. Though interestingly, the imported type doesn't have to be attached to a class when using mago.

1

u/itemluminouswadison Aug 02 '26

great question. i tried a few things in phpstorm but i'm not coming up with anything better.

what you could do is maybe try a union in the type annotation?

1

u/DevelopmentScary3844 Aug 02 '26

We use phpstan at level 9 and it does not complain. I cannot look at the code atm but this works no problems.

-8

u/[deleted] Aug 02 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/PHPhelp-ModTeam Aug 04 '26

Do not post comments that simply tell the user to ask an AI like ChatGPT. The point of this sub is to provide human responses.

-1

u/OppieT Aug 02 '26

Google says:
Add to phpstan.neon:
parameters:
TypeAliases:
User: ‘’’
array{
user_id: int;
username: string;
email: string
}
‘’’