SimplePhpCache

A very simple PHP caching system which can cache HTML output or variables.

Requirements

• PHP 8.2 or higher

Preparation

Install the package with Composer:

composer require tschueller/simplephpcache

Load Composer's autoloader and import the class:

<?php
require __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';

use Tschueller\SimplePhpCache\SimplePhpCache;

Set the cache base directory (required for production):

SimplePhpCache::$cacheBaseDir = __DIR__ . "/var/cache";

Optionally set a namespace to keep cache entries for several applications or tenants separate below the same base directory:

SimplePhpCache::$cacheNamespace = "customer-a";

If no cache base directory is configured, SimplePhpCache temporarily falls back to the system temporary directory for backward compatibility. This emits an E_USER_DEPRECATED warning once per request and will be removed in version 2.0. Set an application-owned directory outside the web root. Standard PHP error configuration controls whether this warning is displayed or logged; for example, exclude E_USER_DEPRECATED from error_reporting to suppress it.

Set the max cache time in seconds (Optional, default is 86400 (1 day)):

SimplePhpCache::$maxCacheTime = 3600; // 1h

Cache HTML

<?php
$cacheName = "html_cache_1";
if (SimplePhpCache::initHTMLCaching($cacheName)) {
?>
	// Output your html stuff here
	<h1>Test</h1>
	<?=generateOutput();?>
<?php
}
echo SimplePhpCache::finishHTMLCaching($cacheName);
?>

Cache a variable

<?php
$cacheName = "var_cache_1";
if (SimplePhpCache::initVarCaching($cacheName)) {
	// Variable to cache:
	$dataToCache = array(1, 2, 3);
	SimplePhpCache::setVarCaching($cacheName, $dataToCache);
}
print_r(SimplePhpCache::finishVarCaching($cacheName));
?>

Clear the cache

Clear all cache files

SimplePhpCache::clearCache();

To refresh a special cache file, set in the init method as the second parameter true

// HTML
SimplePhpCache::initHTMLCaching($cacheName, true)

// Variable
SimplePhpCache::initVarCaching($cacheName, true)

To override the cache lifetime for a single cache entry without changing the global SimplePhpCache::$maxCacheTime, pass its lifetime in seconds as the third parameter:

// Cache this entry for 5 minutes
SimplePhpCache::initHTMLCaching($cacheName, false, 300)
SimplePhpCache::initVarCaching($cacheName, false, 300)

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Migration

See docs/migration.md for all migration paths, including the separately maintained PhaseUtils fork.

Release Process

For the release process, versioning rules, changelog requirements, and GitHub Actions automation, see docs/releasing.md.