As a web developer, you spend the majority of your time writing code. Optimizing your environment can save you time and make you more productive. What is the best editor for php? You need to choose one that won’t let you down when you have to crank out that deadline project.
Why I choose to create this post? There are literally tens of IDE choices for php code development, but only a few of them are free. And most of them are difficult to install, configure and use even for experienced programmers. To my surprise, most of the PHP developers missed some important tools described in this post, so I have decided to share it with the community.
Visual Studio Code
It is an open-source editor developed by Microsoft which supports debugging, embedded Git control, syntax highlighting, intelligent code completion, snippets, and code refactoring to run on all platforms be it Windows, Linux, or Mac OS. The developers can change the editor’s theme, keyboard shortcuts, and highly customizable preferences.
Features of Visual Studio Code
- Visual Studio Code enables auto completing, syntax highlighting, and code navigation.
- Color theme picker.
- Built-in Emmet support.
- Smart code completion
- Built-in integration of Git and GitHub.
- Extensibility
- Integrated terminal.
- Live share
Dreamweaver
Dreamweaver is a popular PHP Development Tool. This tool helps you to create, publish, and manage websites. A website created with DreamWeaver can be uploaded to any web server.
Features:
- Dynamic websites can be easily developed using Dreamweaver.
- It provides readymade layouts to build a website.
- You can create a website that fits any screen size.
- This tool helps you to customize workspace the way you like.
- It has an inbuilt HTML validator to validate your code.
NetBeans PHP IDE
NetBeans IDE can be used on desktops and mobiles. Previous versions of NetBeans IDE are available only for Java. But now it supports many other languages too. It is a popular tool among developers because of the features offered and it is an open-source tool as well.
Features:
- The debugger allows you to debug web pages and scripts locally and remotely.
- NetBeans IDE provides continuous integration support.
- It provides support for PHP 5.6.
Supported Platforms: Windows, Linux, Mac, and Solaris.
Supported Languages: PHP, Java, JavaScript, HTML5, C, C++, and many others.
Cost Details: Free
Atom
Atom
- Supported operating systems: Windows, Linux, macOS, FreeBSD
- License: MIT License
- Source code: https://github.com/atom/atom
- Supported languages: PHP, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Java, C, C#, Objective C, Perl, Python, Ruby, Go, XML, and more
Atom is the “hackable text editor for the 21st century”, according to its slogan. Originally, it was GitHub’s internal tool that later they made open source, but the project is still maintained by GitHub. It’s called hackable because you can customize every single aspect of the editor interface, such as the UI and syntax theme, key bindings, formatting, global and language-specific settings, and more.
In addition to the functionality of the core editor, you can download almost 9,000 packages that allow you to add basically any feature you need. To configure Atom as a PHP editor, you can add PHP-specific packages for debugging, refactoring, annotations, linting, and other development-related tasks.
Best features:
- customizable UI with 3,000+ open source Atom themes
- syntax highlighting and smart autocompletion
- file system browsing and multiple panes
- advanced find and replace tool
- integrated package manager (called apm)
- easy-to-access command palette
- extensibility
- real-time code collaboration (with the in-house-built Teletype package)
- direct Git and GitHub integration (with the in-house-built GitHub package)
Sublime Text
It is a sophisticated text editor for code, markup, and prose for a slick user interface with extraordinary features and amazing performance. This editor is a proprietary cross-platform source code editor with a Python API and supports many programming languages. The developers can also add markup languages and functions which can be added with the help of plugins either community-built or maintained under free-software licenses.
Features of Sublime Text
- Sublime Text offers menus, customizable snippets, key binding, and macros.
- Extensible through plugins.
- Command palette.
- Offers advanced editing functions like multiple selections, split view, auto-completion, document map, and more.
- Comes with a built-in package manager.
Kite
Kite is IDE for PHP that automatically completes multiple line codes. This editor supports more than 16 languages. It helps you to code faster with no hassle.
Price: Free
Features:
- It offers PHP documentation.
- This editor provides a function signature as you type.
- You will get a tooltip on mouse hover.
- Provides support in email.
- Uses machine learning models for PHP language.
PHP Storm
PHPStorm is developed by JetBrains. It is an IDE for PHP and provides an editor for other languages too. It is a commercial tool.
Features:
- Code assistance even while working with databases and SQL.
- Auto completion & Syntax highlighting.
- Easy code navigation.
Supported Platforms: Windows, Mac, and Linux.
Supported Languages: PHP code editor is for PHP, CSS, JavaScript, and HTML.
Cost Details:
- For Individual users: $89 for one year, $71 for the second year, and $53 from there onwards.
- For Organizations: $199 for the first year, $159 for the second year, and $119 from there onwards.
Brackets
Brackets
- Supported operating systems: Windows, Linux, macOS
- License: MIT License
- Source code: https://github.com/adobe/brackets
- Supported languages: HTML, CSS, LESS, SCSS, Sass, JavaScript, PHP, Java, Python, Perl, Ruby, C, C++, VBScript, and more
Brackets is an open source code editor created and maintained by Adobe. As many of Adobe’s products, it primarily focuses on frontend development, but it supports several backend languages as well, including PHP. It has become popular for its inline editing feature for CSS that lets you see all the selectors belonging to a specific CSS rule.
If you do both frontend and backend development, Brackets can be the ideal PHP editor for you — especially if you also work with CSS preprocessors, such as Sass and LESS. That being said, Brackets is not the most advanced PHP editor in this list, but it’s free, lightweight, and easy to use.
Brackets has an extension registry as well, however, it doesn’t have as many extensions as Atom or Visual Studio Code.
Best features:
- vertical and horizontal split view
- live preview using a real-time connection with your web browser
- lightweight (written in JavaScript)
- inline editing (for CSS)
- custom themes are available via the Brackets Extension Registry
- support for CSS preprocessors, including quick edit and live highlight functionalities
Eclipse PDT
Eclipse is the most popular and widely used IDE which also has an open-source PHP development kit. Eclipse is regarded as the best PHP editor to run large-scale projects, but it also requires installing JAVA for getting work done. It is a cross-platform IDE that allows running code on multiple platforms like Linux, macOS, and Windows.
Features of Eclipse PDT
- Eclipse PDT offers a ready-made code template.
- Supports code refactoring
- Automatically validates syntax
- Can work on Linux, OS X, and Windows.
- Enables managing the project remotely
Zend Studio
Zend Studio is an integrated development environment for developing an application in PHP. It is one of the best PHP editor which offers smart code completion and validates errors in real time.
Features:
- It supports the latest version of PHP, HTML, JavaScript, and CSS.
- This tool has enhanced source control integration that helps you to work with SVN (Apache Subversion).
- You can run Zend Studio on Windows, Mac OS, Linux, etc. platform.
- It supports Laravel and Symfony framework.
- Zend Studio can work with cloud platforms like Red Hat OpenShift, Microsoft Azure.
Komodo IDE
Komodo IDE supports many languages. It provides many features too. It offers functionalities for development teams. It is an extensible system through add-ons.
Features:
- Auto-completion & Refactoring features for the code editor.
- Visual Debugger.
- Workflow management.
Supported Platforms: Windows, Linux, and Mac.
Supported Languages: PHP, Perl, Python, Ruby, Tcl, SQL, CSS, HTML, XML, and Smarty.
Cost Details:
- For Single-user: $394
- For 5 licenses: $1675
- For a Team (20+): Contact them.
GNU Emacs
GNU Emacs
- Supported operating systems: Windows, Linux, macOS, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris
- License: GNU GPL vs 3
- Source code: https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/emacs.git
- Supported languages: Lisp, PHP, Python, Ruby, Java, JavaScript, Scala, Perl, and many others
GNU Emacs is a stable and well-established code editor that has been on the market since 1985. It was primarily created for the GNU operating system, but it supports many other OSs as well. Emacs’ design and functionality are both fully customizable using the Emacs Lisp scripting language.
Emacs supports a multitude of programming languages, including HTML and CSS, but it’s typically not used by frontend developers. This is not saying that Emacs is not recommended for you if you are looking for both a frontend and PHP editor. However, note that it has a steeper learning curve than most of the other editors in this list.
In addition to its awesome features, using Emacs certainly has a coolness factor in the programmer community due to the expertise you need to use it, and it even appears in popular culture, such as the Tron: Legacy and Social Network movies.
Best features:
- content-aware editing modes
- full Unicode-support
- customizable both via the command line (using Emacs Lisp) and a graphical UI
- open source package repository to extend the editor
- built-in documentation
- additional functionalities such as debugger UI, project planner, IRC client, calendar, and others
Conclusion:
Developing applications in PHP has never been easier. As long as you have access to a computer, you can create virtually any application you imagine. However, deciding which editor to use for your PHP project can be challenging.
The biggest issue most people face is finding a code editor for PHP. The internet abounds with a lot of tools to try and finding a tool that is simple, effective and most importantly, free can be a tough job. Unless you own a Mac then you’re not going to have access to XCode, which I believe is still the best all around app for coders.