"A code smell is a surface indication that usually corresponds to a deeper problem in the system." ~ Martin Fowler
Code smell is a potentially problematic code indicator with the following formula : ($ccn + $arg) * $loc
- ccn : cyclomatic complexity of the method
- arg : number of method arguments
- loc : number of lines in the method
A high smell value will often reveal that the method is too complex.
This complexity could be detrimental to the maintainability of the method, favoring the appearance of bugs in the future.
This indicator does not replace the expertise of a developer and must above all be considered as an alarm detecting "smelly" code.
Requires >= PHP 8.1
This tool is distributed as a PHP Archive (PHAR):
wget https://github.com/DeGraciaMathieu/php-smelly-code-detector/raw/master/builds/smelly-code-detector
php smelly-code-detector --version
Alternately, you can directly use composer :
composer require degraciamathieu/php-smelly-code-detector --dev
php smelly-code-detector inspect-method {path}
| options | description |
|---|---|
| --min-smell= | The minimum smell threshold to show. |
| --max-smell= | The maximum smell threshold to show. |
| --only= | Comma-separated list of smells to show. |
| --ignore= | Comma-separated list of smells to ignore. |
| --limit= | The maximum number of results to show, default 20. |
| --public | Show only public methods. |
| --private | Show only private methods. |
| --protected | Show only protected methods. |
| --without-constructor | Hide constructors. |
| --sort-by=smell | Sort order (smell, loc, arg, ccl), default smell. |
| --json | Render metrics in JSON |
20 lines are displayed by default, you can configure this with the --limit= option.
$ php smelly-code-detector inspect-method app --limit=5
❀ PHP Smelly Code Detector ❀
84 [============================]
+-----------------------------------------------------+--------+------------+-----+-----+-----+-------+
| file | method | visibility | loc | arg | ccn | Smell |
+-----------------------------------------------------+--------+------------+-----+-----+-----+-------+
| app/Http/Controllers/Blog/AdminPostController.php | update | Public | 25 | 2 | 3 | 125 |
| app/Http/Controllers/Auth/NewPasswordController.php | store | Public | 29 | 1 | 2 | 87 |
| app/Http/Controllers/Blog/AdminPostController.php | store | Public | 26 | 1 | 2 | 78 |
| app/Console/Commands/FetchGoogleFonts.php | store | Private | 26 | 1 | 2 | 78 |
| app/Http/Middleware/RedirectIfAuthenticated.php | handle | Public | 11 | 3 | 4 | 77 |
+-----------------------------------------------------+--------+------------+-----+-----+-----+-------+
5/183 methods displayed
You can select scanned files with --only= and --ignore= options.
$ php smelly-code-detector inspect-method app --only=Controller.php --limit=10
❀ PHP Smelly Code Detector ❀
24 [============================]
+-----------------------------------------------------------+--------------------+------------+-----+-----+-----+-------+
| file | method | visibility | loc | arg | ccn | Smell |
+-----------------------------------------------------------+--------------------+------------+-----+-----+-----+-------+
| app/Http/Controllers/Blog/AdminPostController.php | update | Public | 25 | 2 | 3 | 125 |
| app/Http/Controllers/Auth/NewPasswordController.php | store | Public | 29 | 1 | 2 | 87 |
| app/Http/Controllers/Blog/AdminPostController.php | store | Public | 26 | 1 | 2 | 78 |
| app/Http/Controllers/User/ProfileController.php | updateAvatar | Public | 21 | 1 | 2 | 63 |
| app/Http/Controllers/Blog/GalleryController.php | uploadPicture | Public | 21 | 1 | 2 | 63 |
| app/Http/Controllers/Auth/PasswordResetLinkController.php | store | Public | 17 | 1 | 2 | 51 |
| app/Http/Controllers/User/ProfileController.php | updateInformations | Public | 17 | 1 | 2 | 51 |
| app/Http/Controllers/Auth/RegisteredUserController.php | store | Public | 25 | 1 | 1 | 50 |
| app/Http/Controllers/Blog/ShowPostController.php | __invoke | Public | 12 | 2 | 2 | 48 |
| app/Http/Controllers/Forum/CommentController.php | store | Public | 16 | 2 | 1 | 48 |
+-----------------------------------------------------------+--------------------+------------+-----+-----+-----+-------+
10/50 methods displayed
You can select the visibilities to keep with the --public, --protected and --private options.
$ php smelly-code-detector inspect-method app --private
❀ PHP Smelly Code Detector ❀
84 [============================]
+--------------------------------------------------+---------------------------------+------------+-----+-----+-----+-------+
| file | method | visibility | loc | arg | ccn | Smell |
+--------------------------------------------------+---------------------------------+------------+-----+-----+-----+-------+
| app/Console/Commands/FetchGoogleFonts.php | store | Private | 26 | 1 | 2 | 78 |
| app/Services/Community/CreatorRepository.php | instantiateCreatorsFromResponse | Private | 24 | 1 | 2 | 72 |
| app/Notifications/VerifyEmail.php | verificationUrl | Private | 10 | 1 | 1 | 20 |
| app/Http/Controllers/Blog/ShowPostController.php | postAreNotDisplayable | Private | 3 | 2 | 2 | 12 |
+--------------------------------------------------+---------------------------------+------------+-----+-----+-----+-------+
4/4 methods displayed
By default, rows will be sorted by the smell value, you can change the sort order with --sort-by= option, the following values are available : loc, arg, ccl, smell.
$ php smelly-code-detector inspect-method app --sort-by=ccl --limit=3
❀ PHP Smelly Code Detector ❀
84 [============================]
+---------------------------------------------------+-----------------------+------------+-----+-----+-----+-------+
| file | method | visibility | loc | arg | ccn | Smell |
+---------------------------------------------------+-----------------------+------------+-----+-----+-----+-------+
| app/Http/Middleware/RedirectIfAuthenticated.php | handle | Public | 11 | 3 | 4 | 77 |
| app/Http/Controllers/Blog/AdminPostController.php | update | Public | 25 | 2 | 3 | 125 |
| app/Providers/RouteServiceProvider.php | configureRateLimiting | Protected | 5 | 0 | 2 | 10 |
+---------------------------------------------------+-----------------------+------------+-----+-----+-----+-------+
3/183 methods displayed
This command gives the total smell of a class, as well as an average by method and a breakdown by visibility.
php smelly-code-detector inspect-class {path}
| options | description |
|---|---|
| --only= | Comma-separated list of smells to show. |
| --ignore= | Comma-separated list of smells to ignore. |
| --limit= | The maximum number of results to show, default 20. |
| --public | Show only public methods. |
| --private | Show only private methods. |
| --protected | Show only protected methods. |
| --without-constructor | Hide constructors. |
| --sort-by=smell | Sort order (count, smell, avg), default smell. |
| --json | Render metrics in JSON |
$ php smelly-code-detector inspect-class app
❀ PHP Smelly Code Detector ❀
+-----------------------------------------------------+-------+-------+-----+--------+-------+-------+
| class | count | smell | avg | public | prot. | priv. |
+-----------------------------------------------------+-------+-------+-----+--------+-------+-------+
| app/Http/Controllers/Blog/AdminPostController.php | 8 | 244 | 30 | 100 % | 0 % | 0 % |
| app/Http/Controllers/User/ProfileController.php | 5 | 150 | 30 | 100 % | 0 % | 0 % |
| app/Services/Community/CreatorRepository.php | 3 | 118 | 39 | 38 % | 61 % | 0 % |
| app/Console/Commands/FetchGoogleFonts.php | 4 | 117 | 29 | 9 % | 66 % | 23 % |
| app/Http/Controllers/Forum/CommentController.php | 4 | 116 | 29 | 100 % | 0 % | 0 % |
| app/Http/Controllers/Auth/NewPasswordController.php | 2 | 93 | 46 | 100 % | 0 % | 0 % |
| app/Http/Controllers/Forum/TopicController.php | 7 | 81 | 11 | 100 % | 0 % | 0 % |
| app/Policies/UserPolicy.php | 8 | 77 | 9 | 100 % | 0 % | 0 % |
| app/Policies/TopicPolicy.php | 8 | 77 | 9 | 100 % | 0 % | 0 % |
| app/Policies/CommentPolicy.php | 8 | 77 | 9 | 100 % | 0 % | 0 % |
| app/Policies/SubscriberPolicy.php | 8 | 77 | 9 | 100 % | 0 % | 0 % |
| app/Policies/PostPolicy.php | 8 | 77 | 9 | 100 % | 0 % | 0 % |
| app/Http/Middleware/RedirectIfAuthenticated.php | 1 | 77 | 77 | 100 % | 0 % | 0 % |
| app/Http/Controllers/Blog/GalleryController.php | 3 | 76 | 25 | 100 % | 0 % | 0 % |
| app/Services/Markdown/MarkdownProvider.php | 1 | 75 | 75 | 100 % | 0 % | 0 % |
| app/Http/Controllers/Blog/ShowPostController.php | 3 | 74 | 24 | 64 % | 16 % | 18 % |
| app/Http/Requests/LoginRequest.php | 5 | 70 | 14 | 100 % | 0 % | 0 % |
| app/Models/Post.php | 6 | 68 | 11 | 58 % | 0 % | 41 % |
| app/Notifications/VerifyEmail.php | 5 | 61 | 12 | 67 % | 32 % | 0 % |
| app/Channels/DiscordWebhookChannel.php | 3 | 61 | 20 | 31 % | 0 % | 68 % |
+-----------------------------------------------------+-------+-------+-----+--------+-------+-------+
20/84 class displayed