PHAR File Documentation

Overview

Feature Value
File Format PHAR (PHP Archive)
Extension .phar
MIME Type application/phar
Primary Purpose Distribution and installation of complete PHP applications in a single archive file
Execution Directly executable by PHP interpreter
Compression Supports GZIP, BZIP2, and without compression
Signature Supports SHA-1 and SHA-256 hashing for integrity verification
Readable / Writable Yes, by using the PHAR extension in PHP
Metadata Can store PHP serialized metadata for the entire archive or individual files
Stub A PHP script that is executed when the PHAR file is run, can be used to bootstrap the application
Phar::buildFromDirectory Method to create a PHAR from a directory of files
Phar::addFile Method to add a file to the PHAR archive
Phar::addFromString Method to add file content as a string to the PHAR archive
Alias Ability to set an alias for the PHAR archive for easier referencing
File extraction Supports extracting files or entire archive contents
Web Phar Capability to be used in a web context with a specific front controller file (web.phar)
Phar::mount Method to mount external file system paths to a virtual path within the PHAR archive
Security Includes security features like readonly execution to prevent arbitrary code execution
Compatibility Compatible with PHP 5.3 and above
API Support Rich API for manipulation (creating, modifying, inspecting, iterating over) PHAR archives