What Exception subclasses are built into PHP?

I have not yet been able to find a list of all the built-in Exception sub classes in PHP. I'd rather use built in ones when they make sense, before creating my own exception subclasses.

For example, I know InvalidArgumentException exists, but there appears to be nothing comparable to Java's NullPointerException.

Does anyone have or can link to a list of the available Exception subclasses in PHP?


PHP 5 has two built in exceptions

  • Exception
  • ErrorException

Libraries within PHP have their own built in exceptions

  • DOMException DOM operations raise exceptions under particular circumstances, i.e., when an operation is impossible to perform for logical reasons.
  • IntlException his class is used for generating exceptions when errors occur inside intl functions. Such exceptions are only generated when intl.use_exceptions is enabled.
  • PharException Thrown when working with the Phar class
  • ReflectionException Thrown when working with Reflection classes

SPL includes a few of its own built in exceptions:

  • BadFunctionCallException A callback refers to an undefined function or if some arguments are missing.
  • BadMethodCallException A callback refers to an undefined method or if some arguments are missing.
  • DomainException A value does not adhere to a defined valid data domain.
  • InvalidArgumentException The arguments passed were invalid.
  • LengthException The parameter exceeds the allowed length (used for strings, arrays, file size, etc.).
  • LogicException Generic error occurred in program logic.
  • OutOfBoundsException An illegal index was requested.
  • OutOfRangeException An illegal index was requested. This represents errors that should be detected at compile time.
  • OverflowException Adding an element to a full container.
  • RangeException Indicate range errors during program execution. Normally this means there was an arithmetic error other than under/overflow.
  • RuntimeException An error which can only be found on runtime occurs.
  • UnderflowException Performing an invalid operation on an empty container, such as removing an element.
  • UnexpectedValueException An unexpected value was received (i.e. as the result of a returned value from a method call).

PHP 7 introduces new exceptions including catchable errors. New exceptions include:

  • Throwable is the base interface for any object that can be thrown via a throw statement in PHP 7, including Error and Exception.
  • Error is the base class for all internal PHP errors.
  • AssertionError is thrown when an assertion made via assert() fails.
  • ParseError is thrown when an error occurs while parsing PHP code, such as when eval() is called.
  • TypeError There are three scenarios where a TypeError may be thrown. The first is where the argument type being passed to a function does not match its corresponding declared parameter type. The second is where a value being returned from a function does not match the declared function return type. The third is where an invalid number of arguments are passed to a built-in PHP function (strict mode only).
  • ArithmeticError is thrown when an error occurs while performing mathematical operations. In PHP 7.0, these errors include attempting to perform a bitshift by a negative amount, and any call to intdiv() that would result in a value outside the possible bounds of an integer.
  • DivisionByZeroError is thrown when an attempt is made to divide a number by zero.
  • ArgumentCountError is thrown when too few arguments are passed to a user-defined function or method.

PHP 7.3 introduces JSON exceptions:

  • JsonException is thrown when json_encode() and json_decode() experience an error.

PHP 8 introduces one new exception:

  • ValueError is thrown when you pass a value to a function, which has a valid type but can not be used for the operation.

Here's a chart that demonstrates the new hierarchy introduced in PHP 7:

\Throwable
├── \Exception (implements \Throwable)
|   |── \DOMException (extends \Exception)
|   ├── \IntlException (extends \Exception)
|   ├── \JsonException (extends \Exception)
|   |── \PharException (extends \Exception)
|   |── \ReflectionException (extends \Exception)
|   |── \ValueError (extends \Exception)
│   ├── \LogicException (extends \Exception)
│   │   ├── \BadFunctionCallException (extends \LogicException)
│   │   │   └── \BadMethodCallException (extends \BadFunctionCallException)
│   │   ├── \DomainException (extends \LogicException)
│   │   ├── \InvalidArgumentException (extends \LogicException)
│   │   ├── \LengthException (extends \LogicException)
│   │   └── \OutOfRangeException (extends \LogicException)
│   └── \RuntimeException (extends \Exception)
│       ├── \OutOfBoundsException (extends \RuntimeException)
│       ├── \OverflowException (extends \RuntimeException)
│       ├── \RangeException (extends \RuntimeException)
│       ├── \UnderflowException (extends \RuntimeException)
│       └── \UnexpectedValueException (extends \RuntimeException)
└── \Error (implements \Throwable)
    ├── \AssertionError (extends \Error)
    ├── \ParseError (extends \Error)
    └── \TypeError (extends \Error)
        └── \ArgumentCountError (extends \TypeError)
    └── \ArithmeticError (extends \Error)
        └── \DivisionByZeroError extends \ArithmeticError)

Actually, I managed to find them now that I broke down and asked.

Technically it looks like PHP only has 2 built in exceptions: http://www.php.net/manual/en/reserved.exceptions.php

And the SPL Defines several more: http://www.php.net/manual/en/spl.exceptions.php

With an explanation of their heirarchy: http://www.php.net/~helly/php/ext/spl/classException.html http://web.archive.org/web/20130829124146/http://www.php.net/~helly/php/ext/spl/classException.html (archived on 29 Aug 2013)

Update

The link above is dead, it was a diagram of the basic PHP exception hierarchy. I couldn't find the original, but here's a replacement:

PHP Exception Hierarchy

Originally found at http://fossies.org/dox/php-5.2.17/classException.html, now archived at http://web.archive.org/web/20151002165210/https://fossies.org/dox/php-5.2.17/classException.html (archived on 02 Oct 2015)