php-ext-astop

A PHP extension that intercepts the compilation pipeline and prints the AST and opcodes for every file or string compiled during a request.

Note: This project is a personal learning exercise to explore PHP internals — the compiler pipeline, AST structure, and opcode generation. It is not intended for production use.

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What it does

When loaded, astop hooks into three PHP internals:

Hook	What it captures
zend_ast_process	AST produced after parsing
zend_compile_file	Opcodes for each compiled file
zend_compile_string	Opcodes for eval() / assert() strings

An optional no-exec mode (ASTOP_MODE=no_exec) also replaces zend_execute_ex with a no-op, so you can inspect compilation output without actually running the code.

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Docker

The easiest way to try it out — no PHP dev headers needed locally.

docker build -t astop .

Run an inline snippet:

docker run --rm astop -r 'echo "hello";'

Run a local file:

docker run --rm -v "$(pwd):/work" astop /work/your_script.php

no_exec mode (dump only, skip execution):

docker run --rm -e ASTOP_MODE=no_exec -v "$(pwd):/work" astop /work/your_script.php

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Install via PIE

PIE is the official PHP extension installer.

pie install o0h/astop

Build from source

phpize
./configure
make

The extension will be built at modules/astop.so.

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Usage

Basic — dump AST and opcodes, then run the script

php -d extension=modules/astop.so your_script.php

no_exec — dump only, skip execution

ASTOP_MODE=no_exec php -d extension=modules/astop.so your_script.php

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Example

<?php
echo "hello";

=== AST ===
ZEND_AST_STMT_LIST lineno=1
  stmt[0]: ZEND_AST_STMT_LIST lineno=2
    stmt[0]: ZEND_AST_ECHO lineno=2
      expr: ZEND_AST_ZVAL("hello") lineno=2

=== OPCODES {main} ===
  line  num  opcode                     op1           op2           result
     2    0  ZEND_ECHO                  "hello"       -             -
     3    1  ZEND_RETURN                1             -             -

hello

With ASTOP_MODE=no_exec, the AST and opcode sections appear as above but hello is not printed.

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Running tests

make test