Error Identifier: whitespace.bom

Every error reported by PHPStan has an error identifier. Here’s a list of all error identifiers. In PHPStan Pro you can see the error identifier next to each error and filter errors by their identifiers.

Code example #

A PHP file that starts with a UTF-8 Byte Order Mark (BOM) character (EF BB BF in hex):

<?php declare(strict_types = 1);

echo 'Hello';

The BOM is an invisible character at the very beginning of the file, before the <?php opening tag.

Why is it reported? #

The file begins with a UTF-8 BOM (Byte Order Mark) character. While the BOM is valid UTF-8, it causes problems in PHP files:

When PHP outputs content to the browser, the BOM is sent before any headers, which can cause “headers already sent” errors.
It can interfere with header(), session_start(), and other functions that must be called before any output.
It can produce unexpected whitespace in HTML output.

How to fix it #

Remove the BOM character from the beginning of the file. Most code editors have an option to save files without BOM:

In VS Code: Change the encoding in the status bar from “UTF-8 with BOM” to “UTF-8”.
In PhpStorm: Go to File > File Properties > Remove BOM.
In Sublime Text: Go to File > Save with Encoding > UTF-8.

Alternatively, use a command-line tool to strip the BOM:

sed -i '1s/^\xEF\xBB\xBF//' file.php

How to ignore this error #

You can use the identifier whitespace.bom to ignore this error using a comment:

// @phpstan-ignore whitespace.bom
codeThatProducesTheError();

You can also use only the identifier key to ignore all errors of the same type in your configuration file in the ignoreErrors parameter:

parameters:
	ignoreErrors:
		-
			identifier: whitespace.bom

Rules that report this error #

PHPStan\Rules\Whitespace\FileWhitespaceRule [1]

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