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PHAR (file format)
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<h2 id="history">History</h2> <p>Created in 2004, PHAR files were influenced<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:1" href="#fn:1"><sup>1</sup></a> by Java's <a href="/facts/JAR_(file_format)/LcIBCWXT">JAR file format</a> with the aim of speeding up deployment of applications via FTP.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a> Rather than using the ZIP file format the simpler tar format was used, and the first PHAR was created using the tar command line utility<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a> as a proof of concept. On June 14, 2004<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a> the initial PHP_Archive package was proposed to PEAR and on December 13, 2004 it was accepted unanimously.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a> </p> <h3>PHAR Extension</h3> <p>In 2007, PHP_Archive was ported to <a href="/facts/C_(programming_language)/Ky2No763">C</a> and released as a <a href="/facts/PEAR/pRAKLrdK">PECL</a> extension.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a> The extension was included and enabled by default in PHP 5.3.0.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7"><sup>7</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8"><sup>8</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="design">Design</h2> <p>A PHAR file allows for a Tar, Zip or PHAR formatted archive. Regardless of format, each archive contains three sections: </p> <ol><li>Stub — A PHP file that will bootstrap the archive. The stub must contain the __HALT_COMPILER(); token, and the default stub includes the ability to run a PHAR with or without the PHP extension enabled<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9"><sup>9</sup></a></li> <li>Manifest — The manifest details the contents of the archive</li> <li>File Contents — The original files that are included in the archive</li></ol> <p>Additionally, the PHAR format may also include a signature for verifying PHAR integrity. </p> <h3>Manifest</h3> <p>The manifest contains meta-data information about the archive, and its contents. The binary format is intended to be efficient to parse in both PHP and C. It consists of fixed length segments, in addition to pairs of length specifications followed by variable length segments.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:10" href="#fn:10"><sup>10</sup></a> Each file has its own manifest within a segment of the global manifest. The current format is version 1.1.1. </p> <h3>Compression</h3> <p>All three formats have support for compression, however only the PHAR format supports both per-file and whole archive compression. Zip and Tar formats only support per-file and whole file compression respectively. </p> <h3>Executing PHAR files</h3> <p>Assuming the PHAR extension is enabled, all PHAR files may be executed simply by executing them with the PHP interpreter ("php file.phar"). If the PHAR extension is not enabled, only PHAR format can be executed.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:11" href="#fn:11"><sup>11</sup></a> </p><p>Additionally, it is possible to mark a PHAR file as executable, and to add an appropriate <a href="/facts/Shebang_(Unix)/brtu1F1o">shebang</a> to make the PHAR executable directly. </p> <h2 id="usage">Usage</h2> <p>While PHAR was originally intended for web usage, it is often used by command line utilities. Popular applications distributed in PHAR format, include <a href="/facts/Composer_(software)/VGETv2Hs">Composer</a> and <a href="/facts/PHPUnit/PlqlwSes">PHPUnit</a>. </p> <h2 id="external-links">External links</h2> <ul><li><a href="http://php.net/manual/en/phar.fileformat.phar.php">PHAR File Format</a></li> <li><a href="http://php.net/manual/en/book.phar.php">PHAR Documentation</a></li> <li><a href="http://pear.php.net/PHP_Archive">PHP_Archive PEAR Package</a></li> <li><a href="http://pecl.php.net/phar">PHAR Extension (PECL)</a></li></ul> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>"PHP 5.3 5th Anniversary: The History of PHP Archives (PHAR Files)". blog.engineyard.com. Archived from the original on 2017-09-17. Retrieved 2016-06-16. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170917124023/https://blog.engineyard.com/2014/php-53-5th-anniversary" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20170917124023/https://blog.engineyard.com/2014/php-53-5th-anniversary</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>"PHP 5.3 5th Anniversary: The History of PHP Archives (PHAR Files)". blog.engineyard.com. Archived from the original on 2017-09-17. Retrieved 2016-06-16. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170917124023/https://blog.engineyard.com/2014/php-53-5th-anniversary" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20170917124023/https://blog.engineyard.com/2014/php-53-5th-anniversary</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>"PHP 5.3 5th Anniversary: The History of PHP Archives (PHAR Files)". blog.engineyard.com. Archived from the original on 2017-09-17. Retrieved 2016-06-16. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170917124023/https://blog.engineyard.com/2014/php-53-5th-anniversary" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20170917124023/https://blog.engineyard.com/2014/php-53-5th-anniversary</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:4"><p>"PEPr :: Details :: PHP_Archive". pear.php.net. Retrieved 2016-06-16. <a href="http://pear.php.net/pepr/pepr-proposal-show.php?id=88" target="_blank">http://pear.php.net/pepr/pepr-proposal-show.php?id=88</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:5"><p>"PEPr :: Votes :: PHP_Archive". pear.php.net. Retrieved 2016-06-16. <a href="http://pear.php.net/pepr/pepr-votes-show.php?id=88" target="_blank">http://pear.php.net/pepr/pepr-votes-show.php?id=88</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:6"><p>"PECL :: Package :: phar". pecl.php.net. Retrieved 2016-06-16. <a href="https://pecl.php.net/package/phar" target="_blank">https://pecl.php.net/package/phar</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:7"><p>"PHP: News Archive - 2009". php.net. Retrieved 2016-06-16. <a href="http://php.net/archive/2009.php#id2009-06-30-1" target="_blank">http://php.net/archive/2009.php#id2009-06-30-1</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:8"><p>"PHP: PHP 5 ChangeLog". php.net. Retrieved 2016-06-16. <a href="http://php.net/ChangeLog-5.php#5.3.0" target="_blank">http://php.net/ChangeLog-5.php#5.3.0</a> <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:9"><p>"PHP: Phar::createDefaultStub - Manual". php.net. Retrieved 2016-06-17. <a href="http://php.net/manual/en/phar.createdefaultstub.php" target="_blank">http://php.net/manual/en/phar.createdefaultstub.php</a> <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:10"><p>"PHP: Phar File Format - Manual". php.net. Retrieved 2016-06-17. <a href="http://php.net/manual/en/phar.fileformat.phar.php" target="_blank">http://php.net/manual/en/phar.fileformat.phar.php</a> <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:11"><p>Mertic, John (January 27, 2009). "What's new in PHP V5.3, Part 4, Creating and using Phar archives". IBM.com. Archived from the original on March 2, 2020. Retrieved March 3, 2020. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200302205407/https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/library/os-php-5.3new4/index.html" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20200302205407/https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/library/os-php-5.3new4/index.html</a> <a href="#fnref:11" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>