README

Parse, write, validate, and stream UN/EDIFACT in PHP 8.0+. New to the format? Read the EDIFACT primer.

Install

composer require chemaclass/edifact-parser

Requires ext-json and ext-mbstring.

Quick start

Save this as order.php after installing the package, then run php order.php:

<?php

declare(strict_types=1);

use EdifactParser\EdifactParser;
use EdifactParser\Segments\NADNameAddress;
use EdifactParser\Segments\QTYQuantity;

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

$edi = <<<'EDI'
    UNB+UNOC:3+SENDER+RECEIVER+240101:1200+1'
    UNH+1+ORDERS:D:96A:UN'
    BGM+220+PO-123+9'
    NAD+BY+123456++ACME Corporation+Street 1+Berlin++10115+DE'
    LIN+1++SKU-1:BP'
    QTY+21:100:PCE'
    UNT+6+1'
    UNZ+1+1'
    EDI;

$message = EdifactParser::createWithDefaultSegments()->parse($edi)->firstMessage();
$buyer = $message?->segmentOfType(NADNameAddress::class, 'BY');
$quantity = $message?->lineItemById(1)?->segmentOfType(QTYQuantity::class, '21');

printf("%s: %s, %.0f items\n", $message?->messageType(), $buyer?->name(), $quantity?->quantityAsFloat());
// ORDERS: ACME Corporation, 100 items

For a file, call parseFile('/path/to/order.edi') instead of parse($edi). firstMessage() and typed lookups return null when the requested data is absent. The runnable Quick Start checks the output.

Choose a task

Task	Start here
Parse a string or file, handle errors, stream large files	Parsing
Find typed values, duplicates, line items, groups, or differences	Reading data
Build segments or write a complete interchange	Writing EDIFACT
Check message rules or directory constraints	Validation
Inspect, validate, or compare files in a terminal	Command line
Add segments, configure grouping, or discover accessors	Extending

All guides are listed in the documentation index. Their PHP examples have runnable counterparts in example/. See UPGRADING.md when moving from 6.x.

Read a message

parse() and parseFile() return a ParserResult. Its firstMessage() method returns null when the interchange has no message. Typed lookups also return null when a segment is absent.

$message = EdifactParser::createWithDefaultSegments()
    ->parseFile('/path/to/order.edi')
    ->firstMessage();

$buyer = $message?->segmentOfType(NADNameAddress::class, 'BY');
$quantity = $message?->lineItemById(1)?->segmentOfType(QTYQuantity::class, '21');

The default factory provides typed accessors for 32 common tags. Other tags remain readable through rawValues(). Use directory segments to opt into 134 typed tags, or register a custom segment.

For repeated tags, use $message->query() or $message->segments() to keep every occurrence in order. Keyed lookups keep the last segment with the same tag and sub ID. See reading data.

Use the command line

Composer installs vendor/bin/edifact:

vendor/bin/edifact parse order.edi
vendor/bin/edifact inspect order.edi
vendor/bin/edifact validate order.edi
vendor/bin/edifact diff before.edi after.edi

Results go to stdout as JSON. Errors go to stderr. Exit codes are 0 for success, 1 for invalid input or differences, and 2 for usage errors. See the CLI guide for options and output shapes.

Write and validate

Use segment builders to create typed segments. EdifactSerializer writes segments, and InterchangeBuilder fills in UNT and UNZ counts for a complete interchange. MessageValidator checks required tags, counts, and order; optional directory validation checks elements and code lists.

The parser keeps the original bytes. When reading non-ASCII values, decode them using the UNB syntax identifier as shown in the character set guide. The default NativeTokenizer preserves these bytes; the legacy SabasTokenizer strips them. See tokenizers.

Contributing

Run composer test and composer examples before opening a pull request. See the contributing guide for the full workflow.

chemaclass / edifact-parser

Package info

Security

Fund package maintenance!

Statistics