Cannot validate since a php installation could not be found vs code

Question

Visual Studio Code is a great editor for PHP development. You get features like syntax highlighting and bracket matching, IntelliSense (code completion), and snippets out of the box and you can add more functionality through community-created VS Code extensions.

Table of Contents Show

Linux and macOS
PHP extensions
Disable built-in PHP support
How do I enable php validation in Visual Studio code?
Why php is not working in VS code?
How add php validate executable path in Vscode?

Linting

VS Code uses the official PHP linter (php -l) for PHP language diagnostics. This allows VS Code to stay current with PHP linter improvements.

Tip: Using XAMPP? Install the full version of PHP in order to obtain the development libraries.

There are three settings to control the PHP linter:

php.validate.enable: controls whether to enable PHP linting at all. Enabled by default.
php.validate.executablePath: points to the PHP executable on disk. Set this if the PHP executable is not on the system path.
php.validate.run: controls whether the validation is triggered on save (value: "onSave") or on type (value: "onType"). Default is on save.

To change the PHP settings, open your User or Workspace Settings (⌘, (Windows, Linux Ctrl+,)) and type 'php' to filter the list of available settings.

To set the PHP executable path, select the Edit in settings.json link under PHP > Validate: Executable Path, which will open your user settings.json file. Add the php.validate.executablePath setting with the path to your PHP installation:

Windows

{
  "php.validate.executablePath": "c:/php/php.exe"
}

Linux and macOS

{
  "php.validate.executablePath": "/usr/bin/php"
}

Snippets

Visual Studio Code includes a set of common snippets for PHP. To access these, hit ⌃Space (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Space) to get a context-specific list.

PHP extensions

There are many PHP language extensions available on the VS Code Marketplace and more are being created. You can search for PHP extensions from within VS Code in the Extensions view (⇧⌘X (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+X)) then filter the extensions dropdown list by typing 'php'.

Disable built-in PHP support

To disable the built-in PHP smart completions in favor of suggestions from an installed PHP extension, uncheck PHP > Suggest: Basic, which sets php.suggest.basic to false in your settings.json file.

Debugging

PHP debugging with XDebug is supported through a PHP Debug extension. Follow the extension's instructions for configuring XDebug to work with VS Code.

Next steps

Read on to find out about:

Extension Marketplace - Browse the extensions others have shared
Debugging - Learn more about VS Code debugging

9/1/2022

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I’m currently using Visual Studio Code version 1.71.0 and an error I’ve been seeing for awhile with PHP files is:

Cannot validate since a PHP installation could not be found. Use the setting ‘php.validate.executablePath’ to configure the PHP executable.

What is the quick fix to get this to go away?

@samontabThis means that VS Code cannot find the PHP executable. You can make it go away by simply setting the PHP executable path in the settings. To do that, in VS Code go to File->Preferences->Settings and search for PHP. You'll see something similar to this: Click on Edit in settings.json. An editable file will open. Simply put the path of the PHP executable there and save the file: "php.validate.executablePath": "/path/to/php" The path of PHP will depend on your specific environment. It's also possible that you don't have installed the command line PHP executable. If that's the case, you can install PHP following the official documentation. If you don't know where PHP is, on MacOS and Linux systems you can use which to get the path of the executable, like this: which php That should give you the path of PHP. Simply put that in the settings file and the error should go away.

@samontabThere's also the option to simply ignore it by adding the following to settings.json: "php.validate.enable": false

How do I enable php validation in Visual Studio code?

There are three settings to control the PHP linter:.

validate. enable : controls whether to enable PHP linting at all. Enabled by default..

validate. executablePath : points to the PHP executable on disk. ... .

validate. run : controls whether the validation is triggered on save (value: "onSave" ) or on type (value: "onType" )..

Why php is not working in VS code?

Go to File->Preferences->settings->User settings tab->extensions->from the drop down select php->on the right pane under PHP › Validate: Executable Path select edit in settings. json.