The ReflectionDocBlock Component

Introduction

The ReflectionDocBlock component of phpDocumentor provides a DocBlock parser that is 100% compatible with the PHPDoc standard., _(*1)

With this component, a library can provide support for annotations via DocBlocks or otherwise retrieve information that is embedded in a DocBlock., _(*2)

Note: this is a core component of phpDocumentor and is constantly being optimized for performance., _(*3)

Installation

You can install the component in the following ways:, _(*4)

Use the official Github repository (https://github.com/phpDocumentor/ReflectionDocBlock)
Via Composer (http://packagist.org/packages/phpdocumentor/reflection-docblock)

Usage

The ReflectionDocBlock component is designed to work in an identical fashion to PHP's own Reflection extension (http://php.net/manual/en/book.reflection.php)., _(*5)

Parsing can be initiated by instantiating the \phpDocumentor\Reflection\DocBlock() class and passing it a string containing a DocBlock (including asterisks) or by passing an object supporting the getDocComment() method., _(*6)

Examples of objects having the getDocComment() method are the ReflectionClass and the ReflectionMethod classes of the PHP Reflection extension, _(*7)

Example:, _(*8)

$class = new ReflectionClass('MyClass');
$phpdoc = new \phpDocumentor\Reflection\DocBlock($class);

or, _(*9)

$docblock = <<<DOCBLOCK
/**
 * This is a short description.
 *
 * This is a *long* description.
 *
 * @return void
 */
DOCBLOCK;

$phpdoc = new \phpDocumentor\Reflection\DocBlock($docblock);