Naming Suffix Conventions

ID

php.naming_suffix_conventions

Severity

info

Remediation Complexity

trivial

Remediation Risk

medium

Remediation Effort

low

Resource

Naming Convention

Language

Php

Tags

naming

Description

Reports a type whose name advertises a declaration kind that the actual declaration contradicts: a name ending in Interface that is not an interface, or a name ending in Trait that is not a trait. The Abstract prefix is not enforced — in PHP it is a base-class naming convention applied to concrete classes — and the *Exception convention is enforced separately by php.exception_extension.

Rationale

A suffix that names a kind is a contract with the reader: PaymentInterface promises an interface and LoggableTrait promises a trait. When the declaration does not match, the name actively misinforms — callers expect to implements PaymentInterface or use LoggableTrait and instead find a concrete class. Aligning the kind keyword with the name removes the trap. Adjective names such as Comparable or Cacheable carry no kind suffix and are never flagged. The Abstract prefix is a widespread base-class naming convention applied to concrete classes (for example class AbstractCategory extends Template), so it is not flagged.

<?php
interface PaymentInterface {}        // OK - ends Interface and is an interface
class ShipmentInterface {}           // FLAW - ends Interface but is a class

trait LoggableTrait {}               // OK - ends Trait and is a trait
class AuditingTrait {}               // FLAW - ends Trait but is a class

class AbstractGateway {}             // OK - Abstract prefix is not enforced

Remediation

Either change the declaration to the promised kind (declare an interface or a trait), or rename the type so its suffix no longer claims a kind it is not.

References