# php/php-langspec

PHP Language Specification

Repository: https://github.com/php/php-langspec
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/php-langspec
Homepage: http://www.php.net
Language: PHP
License: NOASSERTION
License Family: other
Last push: 2024-05-04T20:25:57+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 32/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4419, "days_push": 851, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases, no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 2283, forks 266 (observed 2026-08-28T04:06:33.945191+00:00)

## What it is
The official community-owned, open-source specification of the PHP language, describing its syntax and semantics. It serves as a normative reference for implementers and contributors rather than a tutorial or runtime tool.

## Use cases
- understand the formal PHP language specification
- implement a PHP interpreter or compiler
- check exact PHP syntax and semantics rules
- contribute to PHP language standardization
- resolve ambiguity about PHP language behavior
- build PHP tooling like linters or static analyzers against a spec

## When to choose
- you need a normative, precise reference for PHP language behavior
- you are building an alternative PHP implementation or language tooling
- you want to contribute to or track the PHP specification process

## When to avoid
- you want a beginner tutorial or practical PHP manual (use php.net docs instead)
- you need runtime libraries, frameworks, or packages
- you only need API/function reference documentation

## Facets
- artifact type: learning-resource
- maturity: active
- function: documentation, programming-language
- domain: programming-languages, documentation, web-development
- platform: php, cross-platform
- tags: language-specification, php-spec, standards, reference-document

## Member repositories
- php/php-langspec (main) score 32

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:06:33.945191+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T02:41:18.764305+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/php/php-langspec (fetched 2026-08-28T04:06:33.945191+00:00, sha daa2f2d52773)
  - homepage: http://www.php.net (fetched 2026-08-29T10:21:32.521919+00:00, sha 8e965edd8e3a)
  - site_page: https://www.php.net/docs.php (fetched 2026-08-29T10:21:32.526276+00:00, sha 2ebac32f131e)
  - site_page: https://www.php.net/manual/en/getting-started.php (fetched 2026-08-29T10:21:32.530391+00:00, sha ab6a47e3786e)
  - site_page: https://www.php.net/manual/en/features.php (fetched 2026-08-29T10:21:32.535835+00:00, sha e754abca87dd)
  - site_page: https://www.php.net/manual/en/features.http-auth.php (fetched 2026-08-29T10:21:32.537372+00:00, sha 99a4af7cdb48)
  - site_page: https://www.php.net/manual/en/features.cookies.php (fetched 2026-08-29T10:21:32.540723+00:00, sha e9463556acd1)
  - site_page: https://www.php.net/releases/8.5/index.php (fetched 2026-08-29T10:21:32.528184+00:00, sha f04b3fc2cb55)
  - site_page: https://www.php.net/manual/en/security.cgi-bin.php (fetched 2026-08-29T10:21:32.532269+00:00, sha 50258b7db787)
  - site_page: https://www.php.net/manual/en/security.apache.php (fetched 2026-08-29T10:21:32.534118+00:00, sha b0548a78e295)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.