README

A lightweight PHP library providing structured metadata for 62 programming languages — extensions, aliases, filenames, syntax markers, and more.

Zero dependencies. 100% test coverage. PHP 8.4+.

Installation

composer require alto/language

Quick Start

use Alto\Language\Languages;

// Lookup by slug
$php = Languages::get('php');
$php->name;       // "PHP"
$php->extensions; // [".php", ".phtml", ".php3", …]
$php->type;       // LanguageType::Programming

// Lookup by file extension
Languages::fromExtension('.ts');       // → typescript
Languages::fromExtension('rs');        // → rust (dot is optional)

// Lookup by alias
Languages::fromAlias('py');            // → python
Languages::fromAlias('jsx');           // → javascript

// Lookup by filename
Languages::fromFilename('Dockerfile'); // → dockerfile
Languages::fromFilename('Makefile');   // → makefile
Languages::fromFilename('.gitignore'); // → ignore

// Compound extension fallback
Languages::fromFilename('phpunit.xml.dist'); // → xml

// Resolve from any identifier (slug → alias → extension → filename)
Languages::resolve('typescript');      // by slug
Languages::resolve('ts');             // by alias
Languages::resolve('.tsx');           // by extension
Languages::resolve('Makefile');       // by filename

API

Static Facade (Languages)

Injectable Registry (LanguageRegistry)

All facade methods delegate to LanguageRegistry, which can be injected directly:

use Alto\Language\LanguageRegistry;

$registry = new LanguageRegistry();
$python = $registry->get('python');

Language Object

Each Language is an immutable value object:

$lang = Languages::get('typescript');

$lang->name;       // "TypeScript"
$lang->slug;       // "typescript"
$lang->type;       // LanguageType::Programming
$lang->extensions; // [".ts", ".tsx", ".mts", ".cts"]
$lang->aliases;    // ["ts"]
$lang->filenames;  // []
$lang->year;       // 2012
$lang->parent;     // "javascript"
$lang->markers;    // CodeMarkers instance

Languages are JSON-serializable:

json_encode(Languages::get('go'));

Code Markers

Syntax fingerprints attached to each language:

$markers = Languages::get('php')->markers;

$markers->lineComments;     // ["//", "#"]
$markers->blockComments;    // [["/*", "*/"]]
$markers->docComment;       // ["/**", "*/"]
$markers->stringDelimiters; // ["\"", "'"]
$markers->heredoc;          // true
$markers->shebang;          // "#!/usr/bin/env php"
$markers->openingTag;       // "<?php"
$markers->typicalHeaders;   // ["<?php", "<?="]
$markers->blockStyle;       // BlockStyle::Braces
$markers->defaultIndentation; // 4
$markers->indentStyle;      // IndentStyle::Spaces

Enums

LanguageType — categorizes languages by purpose:

Programming, Markup, Data, Prose, Query, Stylesheet, Template, Config, Other

BlockStyle — code block delimiters:

Braces, Indentation, BeginEnd, Tags, None

IndentStyle — default indentation:

Spaces, Tabs

Languages

62 languages included:

Languages with filename-based matching (no extension): Dockerfile, Makefile, .gitignore, .env, Procfile, Justfile, .htaccess, and more.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit issues or pull requests.

Adding a Language

Create a new file in data/languages/:

<?php
// data/languages/mylang.php

use Alto\Language\CodeMarkers;
use Alto\Language\Language;
use Alto\Language\LanguageType;

return new Language(
    name: 'MyLang',
    slug: 'mylang',
    type: LanguageType::Programming,
    extensions: ['.ml'],
    aliases: ['my'],
    markers: new CodeMarkers(
        lineComments: ['//'],
        blockComments: [['/*', '*/']],
    ),
);

License

Released by the Alto project under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.