Discovering attributes | php-attribute-reader | Spatie

 SPATIE

php-attribute-reader
====================

spatie.be/open-source

  [Docs](https://spatie.be/docs)  [Php-attribute-reader](https://spatie.be/docs/php-attribute-reader/v1)  Usage  Discovering attributes

 Version   v1

 Other versions for crawler [v1](https://spatie.be/docs/php-attribute-reader/v1)

- [ Introduction ](https://spatie.be/docs/php-attribute-reader/v1/introduction)
- [ Support us ](https://spatie.be/docs/php-attribute-reader/v1/support-us)
- [ Requirements ](https://spatie.be/docs/php-attribute-reader/v1/requirements)
- [ Installation & setup ](https://spatie.be/docs/php-attribute-reader/v1/installation-setup)
- [ Questions and issues ](https://spatie.be/docs/php-attribute-reader/v1/questions-issues)
- [ Changelog ](https://spatie.be/docs/php-attribute-reader/v1/changelog)
- [ About us ](https://spatie.be/docs/php-attribute-reader/v1/about-us)

Usage
-----

- [ Reading class attributes ](https://spatie.be/docs/php-attribute-reader/v1/usage/reading-class-attributes)
- [ Reading from specific targets ](https://spatie.be/docs/php-attribute-reader/v1/usage/reading-from-specific-targets)
- [ Discovering attributes ](https://spatie.be/docs/php-attribute-reader/v1/usage/discovering-attributes)
- [ Attribute inheritance ](https://spatie.be/docs/php-attribute-reader/v1/usage/attribute-inheritance)

 Discovering attributes
======================

###  On this page

1. [ Basic usage ](#content-basic-usage)
2. [ The AttributeTarget object ](#content-the-attributetarget-object)
3. [ Getting attribute values as an array ](#content-getting-attribute-values-as-an-array)
4. [ Using the reflection target ](#content-using-the-reflection-target)
5. [ Finding all attributes ](#content-finding-all-attributes)
6. [ Inherited members ](#content-inherited-members)

The `find()` method searches an entire class for usages of an attribute: on the class itself, all methods, properties, constants, and method parameters.

Basic usage
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

```
use Spatie\Attributes\Attributes;

#[Attribute(Attribute::TARGET_ALL)]
class Validate
{
    public function __construct(public string $rule = 'required') {}
}

#[Validate('exists:forms')]
class ContactForm
{
    #[Validate('string|max:255')]
    public string $name;

    #[Validate('email')]
    public string $email;

    public function submit(#[Validate('array')] array $data) {}
}

$results = Attributes::find(ContactForm::class, Validate::class);

count($results); // 4
```

The AttributeTarget object
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Each result is an `AttributeTarget` instance with three properties:

```
use Spatie\Attributes\AttributeTarget;

foreach ($results as $result) {
    $result->attribute; // The instantiated attribute (e.g. Validate instance)
    $result->target;    // The Reflection object (ReflectionClass, ReflectionMethod, etc.)
    $result->name;      // A human-readable name (e.g. 'name', 'submit', 'submit.data')
}
```

For the example above, the results would be:

`->name``->target` type`->attribute->rule``ContactForm``ReflectionClass``exists:forms``name``ReflectionProperty``string|max:255``email``ReflectionProperty``email``submit.data``ReflectionParameter``array`For parameters, the name is formatted as `method.parameter`.

Getting attribute values as an array
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Use `toArray()` to get all attribute properties as a keyed array. This is useful when you don't know the attribute's structure upfront:

```
foreach ($results as $result) {
    $result->toArray();
}
```

For the example above, this would return:

`->name``->toArray()``ContactForm``['rule' => 'exists:forms']``name``['rule' => 'string|max:255']``email``['rule' => 'email']``submit.data``['rule' => 'array']`Using the reflection target
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The `target` property gives you direct access to the underlying reflection object, so you can inspect additional details:

```
foreach (Attributes::find(ContactForm::class, Validate::class) as $result) {
    if ($result->target instanceof ReflectionProperty) {
        echo $result->target->getType(); // e.g. 'string'
    }
}
```

Finding all attributes
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You can call `find()` without an attribute filter to get every attribute on a class:

```
$results = Attributes::find(ContactForm::class);

// Returns all attributes across the class, methods, properties, constants, and parameters
```

Inherited members
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The `find()` method includes inherited methods, properties, and constants from parent classes. If a parent class has attributed members, they will appear in the results.