PHP Faker
last modified February 16, 2025
PHP Faker tutorial shows how to generate fake data in PHP with Faker package. We use the fzaninotto/Faker package.
PHP Faker
Faker is a PHP library that generates fake data. Faka data is often used for testing or filling databases with some dummy data. Faker is heavily inspired by Perl’s Data::Faker, and by Ruby’s Faker.
PHP Faker setup
The package is installed with composer.
$ composer req fzaninotto/faker
We install the fzaninotto/faker package.
$ composer req symfony/var-dumper
In addition, we install the Symfony Dumper, which provides nicer console output when dumping variables.
Faker factory
With Faker\Factory::create we create and initialize a faker generator. On the generator, we access the generator properties (called formatters) to generate fake data. Internally, Faker delegates the data generation to providers.
The default provider uses the English locale. Faker supports other locales; they differ in level of completion.
Simple Faker example
The following example is a simple demonstration of Faker.
simple.php
<?php
require(‘vendor/autoload.php’);
$faker = Faker\Factory::create();
echo $faker->name . “\n”; echo $faker->address . “\n”;
The example outputs a fake name and address.
$ php simple.php Antonia Hahn 355 Mills Light Apt. 722 Krajcikburgh, RI 36330
Faking names
In the second example, we fake data related to user names.
names.php
<?php
require(‘vendor/autoload.php’);
$faker = Faker\Factory::create();
echo $faker->name() . “\n”; echo $faker->name(‘male’) . “\n”; echo $faker->name(‘female’) . “\n”;
echo $faker->firstName() . “\n”; echo $faker->firstName($gender=‘male’) . “\n”; echo $faker->firstName($gender=‘female’) . “\n”;
echo $faker->firstNameMale(‘female’) . “\n”; echo $faker->firstNameFemale(‘female’) . “\n”;
echo $faker->lastName() . “\n”;
The example creates fake full names, first names, last names of males and females.
$ php names.php Darion Walker Prof. Chet Kessler Prof. Jaida Greenholt PhD Cristopher Reid Gilda Wiley Juanita Jones
Faking locale data
The Faker supports localized data to some extent. The locale is passed to the factory create method. Note that the locales are finished to various levels.
localized.php
<?php
require(‘vendor/autoload.php’);
$faker = Faker\Factory::create(‘sk_SK’);
for ($i = 0; $i < 3; $i++) {
$name = $faker->name;
$city = $faker->cityName;
$phone = $faker->phoneNumber;
echo "$name, $city, $phone\n";
}
The example generates fake data in Slovak language.
$ php localized.php RNDr. Kvetoslava Zelenayová DSc., Malé Dvorníky, 00421 742 587 664 Agáta Molnárová, Čabalovce, +421 857 627 309 PhDr. Igor Truben, Mokrá Lúka, 00421577302978
This is a sample output. Notice that Slovak language has accents.
Faking titles
The following example creates fake data for titles. Faker generates academic and personal titles.
titles.php
<?php
require(‘vendor/autoload.php’);
$faker = Faker\Factory::create();
echo $faker->title() . “\n”; echo $faker->title(‘male’). “\n”; echo $faker->title(‘female’). “\n”;
echo $faker->titleMale . “\n”; echo $faker->titleFemale . “\n”; echo $faker->suffix . “\n”;
The program generates fake titles for males and females.
$ php titles.php Ms. Dr. Miss Prof. Mrs. DDS
Faking colours
Faker can create colour names or different colour formats, such as hexadecimal and RGB.
colours.php
<?php
require(‘vendor/autoload.php’);
$faker = Faker\Factory::create();
echo $faker->hexcolor . “\n”; echo $faker->rgbcolor . “\n”; dump($faker->rgbColorAsArray); echo $faker->rgbCssColor . “\n”; echo $faker->safeColorName . “\n”; echo $faker->colorName . “\n”;
The example shows how to create colours with Faker.
$ php colours.php #662d69 180,149,135 array:3 [ 0 => 190 1 => 115 2 => 170 ] rgb(119,164,223) aqua LightGreen DarkGray
Faking numbers
The Faker allows to generate random digits, integers, or floating point values.
numbers.php
<?php
require(‘vendor/autoload.php’);
$faker = Faker\Factory::create();
echo $faker->randomDigit . “\n”; echo $faker->randomDigitNotNull . “\n”;
echo $faker->randomNumber() . “\n”; echo $faker->randomNumber($nbDigits = 3, $strict = true) . “\n”;
echo $faker->randomFloat() . “\n”; echo $faker->randomFloat($nbMaxDecimals = 5, $min = 0, $max = 20) . “\n”; echo $faker->numberBetween($min = 1500, $max = 6000) . “\n”;
dump($faker->shuffle([1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]));
The example generates random digits, integers, and floats. It also randomly shuffles array values.
$ php numbers.php 6 6 3654715 614 4164 12.29093 2347 array:6 [ 0 => 3 1 => 6 2 => 2 3 => 5 4 => 1 5 => 4 ]
Faking unique values
With unique modifier, we can produce unique fake values.
unique_values.php
<?php
require(‘vendor/autoload.php’);
$faker = Faker\Factory::create();
$vals = [];
for ($i = 0; $i < 6; $i++) {
$vals[] = $faker->unique()->randomDigit; }
dump($vals);
The example generates an array containing six unique digits.
$ php unique_values.php array:6 [ 0 => 0 1 => 6 2 => 9 3 => 1 4 => 5 5 => 3 ]
Faking optional values
With optional modifier, we can produce optional fake values. Optional values can be null.
optional_values.php
<?php
require(‘vendor/autoload.php’);
$faker = Faker\Factory::create();
$vals = [];
for ($i = 0; $i < 6; $i++) {
$vals[] = $faker->unique()->randomDigit; }
dump($vals);
The example generates an array containing six optional digits.
$ php optional_values.php array:6 [ 0 => 7 1 => 4 2 => null 3 => null 4 => null 5 => 8 ]
Faking internet related data
Faker has several accessors for faking internet related data.
internet.php
<?php
require(‘vendor/autoload.php’);
$faker = Faker\Factory::create();
echo $faker->email . “\n”; echo $faker->safeEmail . “\n”; echo $faker->freeEmail . “\n”; echo $faker->companyEmail . “\n”; echo $faker->freeEmailDomain . “\n”; echo $faker->safeEmailDomain . “\n”; echo $faker->userName . “\n”; echo $faker->password . “\n”; echo $faker->domainName . “\n”; echo $faker->domainWord . “\n”; echo $faker->tld . “\n”; echo $faker->url . “\n”; echo $faker->slug . “\n”; echo $faker->ipv4 . “\n”; echo $faker->localIpv4 . “\n”; echo $faker->ipv6 . “\n”; echo $faker->macAddress . “\n”;
The example shows various internet related data, including emails, domain names, slugs, IP addresses and URLs.
$ php internet.php johns.ryleigh@rowe.com merle96@example.com nyasia.bergnaum@hotmail.com morar.dylan@champlin.com gmail.com example.net bartoletti.ena }#)W+OVU<Lgaa.Atp5^ metz.com blanda org http://www.kling.com/ optio-magnam-provident-pariatur-dolores-consequatur-beatae 127.131.186.145 10.135.68.26 ccf1:64a7:d145:98eb:742d:dc60:cf9e:5d4a C8:31:FD:24:15:06
Generating XML data with Faker
In the following example, we generate XML data with Faker and Twig template. The XML file will contain users.
$ mkdir fakexml $ cd fakexml $ mkdir templates $ composer req fzaninotto/faker $ composer req twig/twig
We create a new project directory and install Faker and Twig template engine.
User.php
<?php
class User { public $firstName; public $lastName; public $occupation;
function __construct(string $first, string $last, string $occupation)
{
$this->firstName = $first;
$this->lastName = $last;
$this->occupation = $occupation;
}
}
This is the User.php, which has the following attributes: $firstName, $lastName, and $occupation;
fake_xml.php
<?php
require DIR . ‘/vendor/autoload.php’; require DIR . ‘/User.php’;
use Twig\Environment; use Twig\Loader\FilesystemLoader; use Faker\Factory;
$loader = new FilesystemLoader(DIR . ‘/templates’); $twig = new Environment($loader);
$faker = Factory::create();
$users = [];
for ($i = 0; $i < 20; $i++) { $firstName = $faker->firstName; $lastName = $faker->lastName; $occupation = $faker->jobTitle;
$user = new User($firstName, $lastName, $occupation);
array_push($users, $user);
}
$content = $twig->render(‘users.xml.twig’, [‘users’ => $users]); file_put_contents(‘users.xml’, $content);
The program generates an array of twenty users. The array is passed to the Twig template to be processed. The template is located in the templates directory. The generated content is written to the users.xml file.
templates/users.xml.twig
<?xml version=“1.0” encoding=“UTF-8”?> <users> {% for user in users %} <user id="{{ loop.index }}"> <firstname>{{ user.firstName }}</firstname> <lastname>{{ user.lastName }}</lastname> <occupation>{{ user.occupation }}</occupation> </user> {% endfor %} </users>
In the template, we use the for directive to process the array of users.
Source
In this article we have used PHP Faker to generate fake data in PHP.
Author
My name is Jan Bodnar, and I am a passionate programmer with extensive programming experience. I have been writing programming articles since 2007. To date, I have authored over 1,400 articles and 8 e-books. I possess more than ten years of experience in teaching programming.
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