--- title: PHP_CodeSniffer or PHP-CS-Fixer? | daily.dev description: Sebastian Bergmann, creator of PHPUnit, explains the difference between PHP_CodeSniffer and PHP-CS-Fixer and when to use each. PHP-CS-Fixer is best for... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/php-codesniffer-or-php-cs-fixer--umyfuxgze twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: PHP_CodeSniffer or PHP-CS-Fixer? | daily.dev og:description: Sebastian Bergmann, creator of PHPUnit, explains the difference between PHP_CodeSniffer and PHP-CS-Fixer and when to use each. PHP-CS-Fixer is best for... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/php-codesniffer-or-php-cs-fixer--umyfuxgze og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/uMYFuXgzE.png og:image:alt: PHP_CodeSniffer or PHP-CS-Fixer? og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # PHP_CodeSniffer or PHP-CS-Fixer? **[PHPUnit Expert](https://daily.dev/sources/phpunit-expert)** · 4 min read · 1 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Sebastian Bergmann, creator of PHPUnit, explains the difference between PHP_CodeSniffer and PHP-CS-Fixer and when to use each. PHP-CS-Fixer is best for enforcing coding standards in daily development since it can automatically fix everything it detects. PHP_CodeSniffer is better suited for code reviews, due diligence, and security audits thanks to its extensible sniff system and specialized rulesets like PHPCompatibility. The two tools are complementary rather than interchangeable. Psalm and PHPStan, which focus on finding runtime errors via static analysis, are covered separately. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: --- Tags: [#php](https://daily.dev/tags/php) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/php-codesniffer-or-php-cs-fixer--umyfuxgze) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"PHP_CodeSniffer or PHP-CS-Fixer?","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/php-codesniffer-or-php-cs-fixer--umyfuxgze","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/php-codesniffer-or-php-cs-fixer--umyfuxgze"},"datePublished":"2026-03-31T13:34:21.735Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T13:34:51.636Z","description":"Sebastian Bergmann, creator of PHPUnit, explains the difference between PHP_CodeSniffer and PHP-CS-Fixer and when to use each. PHP-CS-Fixer is best for...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/9c4f7fe9eb341b31d75f12eda9bf7457?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/9c4f7fe9eb341b31d75f12eda9bf7457?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"PHPUnit Expert","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"PHPUnit Expert","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--FMZoysoG--/f_auto,q_auto/v1774964057/logos/phpunit-expert?_a=BAMAMiWQ0","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/phpunit-expert"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/php-codesniffer-or-php-cs-fixer--umyfuxgze","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"php","timeRequired":"PT4M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"PHPUnit Expert","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/phpunit-expert"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"PHP_CodeSniffer or PHP-CS-Fixer?"}]} ```