README

Phel is a functional, Lisp-inspired programming language that compiles to PHP. It brings the expressive power of Clojure and the simplicity of Janet to the PHP ecosystem — enabling you to write concise, immutable, and composable code that runs anywhere PHP does.

Example

; Define a namespace
(ns my\example)

; Define a variable with name "my-name" and value "world"
(def my-name "world")

; Define a function with name "print-name" and one argument "your-name"
(defn print-name [your-name]
  (print "hello" your-name))

; Call the function
(print-name my-name)

Documentation

Getting Started

Quick Start Tutorial Get up and running in 5 minutes with your first Phel application.
Installation Detailed installation guide and project setup.

Learning Resources

Common Patterns Idiomatic Phel code patterns for everyday tasks.
PHP/Phel Interop Complete guide to working between PHP and Phel code.
Reader Shortcuts Reference for all special syntax and reader macros.
Lazy Sequences Performance patterns and common pitfalls.
Mocking Guide Testing with mocks and test doubles.
Examples Runnable code samples covering key features.

Reference

Website Official website with tutorials, exercises, and blog posts.
Packagist Official PHP package repository.
Internals Deep dive into the compiler architecture.

Build PHAR

Run the following command to create a standalone PHAR executable:

./build/phar.sh

The generated build/out/phel.phar can then be executed directly.

Contribute

Please refer to CONTRIBUTING.md for information on how to contribute to Phel. For a quick overview of project layout, tooling, and review expectations, visit the Repository Guidelines.

phel-lang / phel-lang

Maintainers

Details