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Asked: 2026-05-12T07:03:16+00:00

I know there are many different standards for PHP code inline documentation. Here’s what

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I know there are many different standards for PHP code inline documentation. Here’s what I mean by inline documentation, and please correct me if there is a better term:

/**
* This is the description for the class below.
*
* @package    my-package
* @subpackage my-subpackage
* @author     my-name
* @version    my-version
* ...
*/
class orderActions {
...

What is the best and most widely-accepted form of inline documentation? In other words, what are those forms of inline documentation that everyone agrees on, and are not significantly based on opinions; the universally accepted forms of PHP in-line documentation that everyone should know about, but as a questioner, I’m not sure of yet, but after this question is answered, I will have a good overview of, not involving any particular opinions.

Are there any tools to auto-generate such documentation, or does it have to be done by hand?

I’m not interested in generating manuals — I want to know how to generate the type of code commenting above, or “inline documentation.”

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    PHPDoc, like what you’ve posted, is a widely accepted form of PHP documentation.

    You can use Doxygen to auto-generate the docs.

    Edit: In terms of generating in-line documentation in your code, I have never come across a tool that will go back and do this externally for a project. It’s generally left in the realm of the IDE to generate a template while you code.

    Eclipse actually does a decent job of this (it’s one of the few things I like about Eclipse) and I believe Netbeans does as well. Any major IDE will likely have functionality to assist with this type of template generation.

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