PSR-4: Autoloading Standard in PHP

Ahnii!

Remember the old days of PHP when we had to manually require every single file? 😅 Last week, I was helping a team modernize their legacy application that had 50+ require statements at the top of each file. Let me show you how PSR-4 autoloading makes this a problem of the past!

Understanding PSR-4 (5 minutes)

Think of PSR-4 as your code’s GPS system - it helps PHP find the right files automatically. Just like how a GPS uses addresses to find locations, PSR-4 uses namespaces to locate classes.

Key Concepts (2 minutes)

1. 📍 Fully Qualified Class Name (FQCN)
   • Vendor namespace (like your brand)
   • Package namespace (like your project)
   • Class name (the actual file)
2. 📁 Directory Structure
   • Base directory (where everything starts)
   • Namespace mapping (your GPS coordinates)
   • File location rules (the actual addresses)

Real-World Example (10 minutes)

Here’s how I structure my projects:

vendor/
└── jonesrussell/
    └── blog/
        ├── composer.json
        └── src/
            └── Post/
                ├── PostController.php
                └── PostRepository.php

1. Setting Up Composer (3 minutes)

{
    "name": "jonesrussell/blog",
    "autoload": {
        "psr-4": {
            "JonesRussell\\Blog\\": "src/"
        }
    }
}

2. Creating Classes (2 minutes)

<?php

namespace JonesRussell\Blog\Post;

class PostController
{
    public function index()
    {
        return ['status' => 'Ready to blog!'];
    }
}

Common Patterns I Use (5 minutes)

1. 🎯 Multiple Namespace Roots

{
    "autoload": {
        "psr-4": {
            "JonesRussell\\Blog\\": "src/",
            "JonesRussell\\Blog\\Tests\\": "tests/"
        }
    }
}

2. 🌳 Nested Namespaces

<?php

namespace JonesRussell\Blog\Core\Database;

class Connection
{
    private $config;

    public function __construct(array $config)
    {
        $this->config = $config;
    }
}

// File location: src/Core/Database/Connection.php

Framework Examples (5 minutes)

If you’re using Laravel or Symfony (like I do), they follow PSR-4 out of the box:

Laravel

<?php

namespace App\Http\Controllers;

class BlogController extends Controller
{
    public function index()
    {
        return view('blog.index');
    }
}

Symfony

<?php

namespace App\Controller;

use Symfony\Bundle\FrameworkBundle\Controller\AbstractController;

class BlogController extends AbstractController
{
    public function index(): Response
    {
        return $this->render('blog/index.html.twig');
    }
}

Quick Fixes for Common Issues (3 minutes)

1. 🔍 “Class Not Found” Errors

# When things go wrong, this is your friend:
composer dump-autoload

1. 🎯 Directory Structure Mistakes

# Don't do this
src/
└── controllers/ # lowercase = bad
    └── PostController.php

# Do this instead
src/
└── Controller/ # Matches namespace case
    └── PostController.php

Testing Your Setup (2 minutes)

Drop this in test-autoload.php:

<?php

require 'vendor/autoload.php';

// If this works, your autoloading is set up correctly!
$controller = new \JonesRussell\Blog\Post\PostController();
var_dump($controller->index()); // Should show "Ready to blog!"

Next Steps

Tomorrow, we’ll explore PSR-6 and see how it standardizes caching in PHP applications. This post is part of our PSR Standards in PHP series.

Resources

• Official PSR-4 Specification
• Composer Autoloading Documentation
• Series Example Repository (v0.3.0 - PSR-4 Implementation)