I’m working on a PHP project where we want to ensure that all include, require, include_once, and require_once statements use the __DIR__ constant for path resolution.

I couldn’t find an existing sniff that enforces this rule, so I decided to write my own.

1. Creating the Custom Sniff File

First, create a file that defines your custom sniff. In my project, I placed it in a folder named _dev (which I later exclude from production). I named the file IncludeUsingDirSniff.php and used the namespace MyCustom.

Below is the code for the custom sniff:

getTokens();

        // Determine the end of the current statement (typically until the semicolon)
        $end = $phpcsFile->findEndOfStatement($stackPtr);
        if ($end === false) {
            $end = count($tokens) - 1;
        }

        $foundDir = false;
        for ($i = $stackPtr; $i <= $end; $i++) {
            if (strpos($tokens[$i]['content'], '__DIR__') !== false) {
                $foundDir = true;
                break;
            }
        }

        if (!$foundDir) {
            $error="The %s statement must use __DIR__ for the file path.";
            $phpcsFile->addError(sprintf($error, $tokens[$stackPtr]['content']), $stackPtr, 'MissingDirUsage');
        }
    }
}

2. Setting Up the Ruleset

To ensure that PHP CodeSniffer uses my custom sniff, I added a ruleset that explicitly loads my sniff file. I created a ruleset file (e.g., phpcs.xml) in the project root with the following content:

    
        My Stuff
    

    
    
    


    
        
        
    
    


    
        
            
                
                
                
            
        
    

Key Points:

3. Running PHP CodeSniffer

Now, when running PHP CodeSniffer from the project root:

$phpcs --standard=_dev/phpcs.xml /var/www/buero
ERROR: Referenced sniff "MyCustom.IncludeUsingDirSniff" does not exist

What am I doing wrong?