Faker

Faker is a PHP library that generates fake data for you. Whether you need to bootstrap your database, create good-looking XML documents, fill-in your persistence to stress test it, or anonymize data taken from a production service, Faker is for you.

Faker is heavily inspired by Perl's Data::Faker, and by ruby's Faker.

Faker requires PHP >= 5.3.3.

Faker is archived. Read the reasons behind this decision here: https://marmelab.com/blog/2020/10/21/sunsetting-faker.html

Table of Contents

• Installation
• Basic Usage
• Formatters
  • Base
  • Lorem Ipsum Text
  • Person
  • Address
  • Phone Number
  • Company
  • Real Text
  • Date and Time
  • Internet
  • User Agent
  • Payment
  • Color
  • File
  • Image
  • Uuid
  • Barcode
  • Miscellaneous
  • Biased
  • Html Lorem
• Modifiers
• Localization
• Populating Entities Using an ORM or an ODM
• Seeding the Generator
• Faker Internals: Understanding Providers
• Real Life Usage
• Language specific formatters
• Third-Party Libraries Extending/Based On Faker
• License

Installation

composer require fzaninotto/faker

Basic Usage

Autoloading

Faker supports both PSR-0 as PSR-4 autoloaders.

<?php
# When installed via composer
require_once 'vendor/autoload.php';

You can also load Fakers shipped PSR-0 autoloader

<?php
# Load Fakers own autoloader
require_once '/path/to/Faker/src/autoload.php';

alternatively, you can use any another PSR-4 compliant autoloader

Create fake data

Use Faker\Factory::create() to create and initialize a faker generator, which can generate data by accessing properties named after the type of data you want.

<?php
// use the factory to create a Faker\Generator instance
$faker = Faker\Factory::create();

// generate data by accessing properties
echo $faker->name;
  // 'Lucy Cechtelar';
echo $faker->address;
  // "426 Jordy Lodge
  // Cartwrightshire, SC 88120-6700"
echo $faker->text;
  // Dolores sit sint laboriosam dolorem culpa et autem. Beatae nam sunt fugit
  // et sit et mollitia sed.
  // Fuga deserunt tempora facere magni omnis. Omnis quia temporibus laudantium
  // sit minima sint.

Even if this example shows a property access, each call to $faker->name yields a different (random) result. This is because Faker uses __get() magic, and forwards Faker\Generator->$property calls to Faker\Generator->format($property).

<?php
for ($i = 0; $i < 10; $i++) {
  echo $faker->name, "\n";
}
  // Adaline Reichel
  // Dr. Santa Prosacco DVM
  // Noemy Vandervort V
  // Lexi O'Conner
  // Gracie Weber
  // Roscoe Johns
  // Emmett Lebsack
  // Keegan Thiel
  // Wellington Koelpin II
  // Ms. Karley Kiehn V

Tip: For a quick generation of fake data, you can also use Faker as a command line tool thanks to faker-cli.

Formatters

Each of the generator properties (like name, address, and lorem) are called "formatters". A faker generator has many of them, packaged in "providers". Here is a list of the bundled formatters in the default locale.

Faker\Provider\Base

randomDigit             // 7
randomDigitNot(5)       // 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, or 9
randomDigitNotNull      // 5
randomNumber($nbDigits = NULL, $strict = false) // 79907610
randomFloat($nbMaxDecimals = NULL, $min = 0, $max = NULL) // 48.8932
numberBetween($min = 1000, $max = 9000) // 8567
randomLetter            // 'b'
// returns randomly ordered subsequence of a provided array
randomElements($array = array ('a','b','c'), $count = 1) // array('c')
randomElement($array = array ('a','b','c')) // 'b'
shuffle('hello, world') // 'rlo,h eoldlw'
shuffle(array(1, 2, 3)) // array(2, 1, 3)
numerify('Hello ###') // 'Hello 609'
lexify('Hello ???') // 'Hello wgt'
bothify('Hello ##??') // 'Hello 42jz'
asciify('Hello ***') // 'Hello R6+'
regexify('[A-Z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Z0-9.-]+\.[A-Z]{2,4}'); // sm0@y8k96a.ej

Faker\Provider\Lorem

word                                             // 'aut'
words($nb = 3, $asText = false)                  // array('porro', 'sed', 'magni')
sentence($nbWords = 6, $variableNbWords = true)  // 'Sit vitae voluptas sint non voluptates.'
sentences($nb = 3, $asText = false)              // array('Optio quos qui illo error.', 'Laborum vero a officia id corporis.', 'Saepe provident esse hic eligendi.')
paragraph($nbSentences = 3, $variableNbSentences = true) // 'Ut ab voluptas sed a nam. Sint autem inventore aut officia aut aut blanditiis. Ducimus eos odit amet et est ut eum.'
paragraphs($nb = 3, $asText = false)             // array('Quidem ut sunt et quidem est accusamus aut. Fuga est placeat rerum ut. Enim ex eveniet facere sunt.', 'Aut nam et eum architecto fugit repellendus illo. Qui ex esse veritatis.', 'Possimus omnis aut incidunt sunt. Asperiores incidunt iure sequi cum culpa rem. Rerum exercitationem est rem.')
text($maxNbChars = 200)                          // 'Fuga totam reiciendis qui architecto fugiat nemo. Consequatur recusandae qui cupiditate eos quod.'

Faker\Provider\en_US\Person

title($gender = null|'male'|'female')     // 'Ms.'
titleMale                                 // 'Mr.'
titleFemale                               // 'Ms.'
suffix                                    // 'Jr.'
name($gender = null|'male'|'female')      // 'Dr. Zane Stroman'
firstName($gender = null|'male'|'female') // 'Maynard'
firstNameMale                             // 'Maynard'
firstNameFemale                           // 'Rachel'
lastName                                  // 'Zulauf'

Faker\Provider\en_US\Address

cityPrefix                          // 'Lake'
secondaryAddress                    // 'Suite 961'
state                               // 'NewMexico'
stateAbbr                           // 'OH'
citySuffix                          // 'borough'
streetSuffix                        // 'Keys'
buildingNumber                      // '484'
city                                // 'West Judge'
streetName                          // 'Keegan Trail'
streetAddress                       // '439 Karley Loaf Suite 897'
postcode                            // '17916'
address                             // '8888 Cummings Vista Apt. 101, Susanbury, NY 95473'
country                             // 'Falkland Islands (Malvinas)'
latitude($min = -90, $max = 90)     // 77.147489
longitude($min = -180, $max = 180)  // 86.211205

Faker\Provider\en_US\PhoneNumber

phoneNumber             // '201-886-0269 x3767'
tollFreePhoneNumber     // '(888) 937-7238'
e164PhoneNumber     // '+27113456789'

Faker\Provider\en_US\Company

catchPhrase             // 'Monitored regional contingency'
bs                      // 'e-enable robust architectures'
company                 // 'Bogan-Treutel'
companySuffix           // 'and Sons'
jobTitle                // 'Cashier'

Faker\Provider\en_US\Text

realText($maxNbChars = 200, $indexSize = 2) // "And yet I wish you could manage it?) 'And what are they made of?' Alice asked in a shrill, passionate voice. 'Would YOU like cats if you were never even spoke to Time!' 'Perhaps not,' Alice replied."

Faker\Provider\DateTime

unixTime($max = 'now')                // 58781813
dateTime($max = 'now', $timezone = null) // DateTime('2008-04-25 08:37:17', 'UTC')
dateTimeAD($max = 'now', $timezone = null) // DateTime('1800-04-29 20:38:49', 'Europe/Paris')
iso8601($max = 'now')                 // '1978-12-09T10:10:29+0000'
date($format = 'Y-m-d', $max = 'now') // '1979-06-09'
time($format = 'H:i:s', $max = 'now') // '20:49:42'
dateTimeBetween($startDate = '-30 years', $endDate = 'now', $timezone = null) // DateTime('2003-03-15 02:00:49', 'Africa/Lagos')
dateTimeInInterval($startDate = '-30 years', $interval = '+ 5 days', $timezone = null) // DateTime('2003-03-15 02:00:49', 'Antartica/Vostok')
dateTimeThisCentury($max = 'now', $timezone = null)     // DateTime('1915-05-30 19:28:21', 'UTC')
dateTimeThisDecade($max = 'now', $timezone = null)      // DateTime('2007-05-29 22:30:48', 'Europe/Paris')
dateTimeThisYear($max = 'now', $timezone = null)        // DateTime('2011-02-27 20:52:14', 'Africa/Lagos')
dateTimeThisMonth($m