Squiz.PHP.EmbeddedPhp.ContentAfterEnd and DOCTYPE

Author: kkmuffmeCreated Jan 24, 2023Updated Mar 9, 2026

Describe the bug

Code sample

php

?><!DOCTYPE html>

Custom ruleset

xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<ruleset name="My Custom Standard">
  <description>If you are using a custom ruleset, please enter it here.</description>
  <rule ref="Squiz.PHP.EmbeddedPhp.ContentAfterEnd"/>
</ruleset>

To reproduce Steps to reproduce the behavior:

Create a file called test.php with the code sample above...
Run phpcbf test.php ...
phpcbf created invalid HTML

php

?>
<!DOCTYPE html>

Expected behavior There is no space allowed before the DOCTYPE tag - any space before the DOCTYPE will cause browsers to run quirks mode.

Versions (please complete the following information):

OS: Centos 8
PHP: 7.4
PHPCS: master
Standard: custom

Source: squizlabs/PHP_CodeSniffer

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