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<Phar::setDefaultStubPhar::setSignatureAlgorithm>
^PharLast updated: Mon, 26 Oct 2026

Phar::setMetadata

(PHP 5 >= 5.3.0, PHP 7, PHP 8, PECL phar >= 1.0.0)

Phar::setMetadata — Sets phar archive meta-data

Description

public function Phar::setMetadata(mixed $metadata): void

Note:

This method requires the php.ini setting phar.readonly to be set to 0 in order to work for Phar objects. Otherwise, a PharException will be thrown.

Phar::setMetadata() should be used to store customized data that describes something about the phar archive as a complete entity. PharFileInfo::setMetadata() should be used for file-specific meta-data. Meta-data can slow down the performance of loading a phar archive if the data is large.

Some possible uses for meta-data include specifying which file within the archive should be used to bootstrap the archive, or the location of a file manifest like » PEAR's package.xml file. However, any useful data that describes the phar archive may be stored.

Parameters

metadata

Any PHP variable containing information to store that describes the phar archive

Return Values

No value is returned.

Examples

Example #1 A Phar::setMetadata() example

<?php
// make sure it doesn't exist
@unlink('brandnewphar.phar');
try {
    $p = new Phar(dirname(__FILE__) . '/brandnewphar.phar', 0, 'brandnewphar.phar');
    $p['file.php'] = '<?php echo "hello"';
    $p->setMetadata(array('bootstrap' => 'file.php'));
    var_dump($p->getMetadata());
} catch (Exception $e) {
    echo 'Could not create and/or modify phar:', $e;
}
?>

The above example will output:

array(1) {
  ["bootstrap"]=>
  string(8) "file.php"
}

See Also


<Phar::setDefaultStubPhar::setSignatureAlgorithm>
^PharLast updated: Mon, 26 Oct 2026