Three curly brackets together in php source code

Question

I just downloaded complete source code of PHP from php.net (PHP 5.4.0 [tar.bz2]). They are often using three curly brackets together as given below (The following code snippet extracted form ext/ctype/ctype.c.)

/* {{{ proto bool ctype_digit(mixed c)
   Checks for numeric character(s) */
 static PHP_FUNCTION(ctype_digit)
 {
  CTYPE(isdigit);
 }
/* }}} */

Does anyone have the idea why they are using these three curly brackets together?

They're used by some editors to "fold" blocks of code so only the text in the comment line itself is visible, and the actual code is "folded" away. — Marc B, Mar 15 '12 at 06:22
I don't think just for the sake of folding they are allowing to add three curly brackets. — Mohammed H, Mar 15 '12 at 06:27
@HabeebPerwad It's in comment blocks - they can "allow" whatever they want in there. :) — Narf, Mar 15 '12 at 07:16
See also: https://github.com/php/php-src/blob/master/CODING_STANDARDS#L215 — Jari Keinänen, Jul 19 '12 at 09:58

score 33 · Accepted Answer · edited Dec 09 '19 at 05:58

33

They are vim fold markers, they make it easy to collapse and expand the text inbetween the triple curly braces in vim, in the example shown alternating between:

...

/* {{{ proto bool ctype_digit(mixed c)
   Checks for numeric character(s) */
static PHP_FUNCTION(ctype_digit)
{
    CTYPE(isdigit);
}
/* }}} */

...

and just

...

/* {{{ proto bool ctype_digit(mixed c)

...

If you look at the end of the file where you find them, you'll often find a block like this:

/*
 * Local variables:
 * tab-width: 4
 * c-basic-offset: 4
 * End:
 * vim600: sw=4 ts=4 fdm=marker
 * vim<600: sw=4 ts=4
 */

Which is another more-obvious indicator that these comments relate to vim.

edited Dec 09 '19 at 05:58

ash108

1,763
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answered Mar 15 '12 at 09:03

AD7six

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And I am a big fan of folding Now! – Mohammed H Aug 24 '13 at 06:48
I just couldn't live without folding in vim! zf, c, zd, zi and zi are now lying deep inside my muscle-memory, since 2011. – Pierre Jul 02 '23 at 09:57

Three curly brackets together in php source code

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