Debugging with PhpStorm: Ultimate Guide
This section provides a handful selection of tutorials that will help you get started with debugging in PhpStorm.
Quick Start
Before proceeding with any of the debugging scenarios, you need to choose a debugging engine and install it in your PHP environment. These tutorials will guide you through the installation process:
Installing Xdebug (recommended) | Installing Zend Debugger |
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With the debugging engine installed, you can start debugging your application by following the zero-configuration debugging approach:
Choose and install the browser extension suitable for your browser.
On the PhpStorm toolbar, toggle to start listening for incoming PHP debug connections, or choose
from the main menu.-
Set a breakpoint in your code. Breakpoints can be set in the PHP context inside PHP, HTML, TWIG, BLADE, and files of other types. Line breakpoints can be set only on executable lines, but not on comments, declarations, or empty lines. For details on getting started with Twig and Blade debugging, refer to Debugging Twig templates and Debugging Blade templates.
Start the debugging session in the browser using the installed browser extension.
Debugging a PHP web application
Depending on your environment, you can debug your PHP Web application locally or remotely.
Local debugging | Remote debugging |
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The debugging engine and PhpStorm are running on the same machine. | The debugging engine is running on a remote environment (for example, a remote server or a virtual machine). |
Follow the Zero-Configuration Debugging procedure. |
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Debugging a PHP CLI script
Depending on your environment, you can debug your PHP CLI script locally or remotely.
Local debugging | Remote debugging |
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The debugging engine and PhpStorm are running on the same machine. | The debugging engine is running on a remote environment (for example, a remote server or a virtual machine). |
Follow the Debugging a PHP CLI script procedure. |
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Besides running an entire application, you may want to run a PHPUnit or Behat test that covers a specific class, function or scenario, with the debugging engine attached. To learn how to do it, follow the Creating run/debug configurations for tests procedure.
Troubleshooting
When using Xdebug or Zend Debugger with PhpStorm, some misconfiguration can prevent the debugger from working. In the Troubleshooting guide, you will find the description of some common issues and learn how to troubleshoot them.
Advanced debugging scenarios
The following topics will assist you in exploring the advanced debugging scenarios in PhpStorm: