How to Install Composer

Composer is a dependency management tool for PHP. It helps developers manage libraries and packages their projects depend on. Instead of manually downloading and updating third-party PHP libraries, Composer automates the process, ensuring your project gets the correct versions and updates when needed.

Why Use Composer?

• Saves Time: It eliminates the need to manually download and integrate libraries.

• Ensures Compatibility: Handles dependency conflicts and ensures libraries work together.

• Simplifies Updates: Allows you to easily update libraries when new versions are available.

• Boosts Collaboration: Other developers on your team can simply run composer install to get all dependencies defined in the composer.json.

Install Composer on Windows
Step 1: Download Composer Installer

1. Go to the official Composer website:

  https://getcomposer.org/

2.

Click on "Getting Started" and then download the "Composer-Setup.exe" file for Windows.

Step 2: Run the Installer

1. Open the downloaded Composer-Setup.exe file.

1. Follow the installation wizard:

• Choose PHP Executable: Locate your php.exe file. If PHP is
  installed and added to your PATH, the installer will detect it
  automatically.

• If PHP is not installed, download it from php.net or install
  tools like XAMPP or WAMP.

• Select Installation Path: Choose the folder where Composer
  should be installed.

• Add Composer to PATH: The installer will offer to add
  Composer to your system's PATH automatically. Ensure this option
  is selected.

Step 3: Verify the Installation

1. Open Command Prompt or PowerShell.

2. Type:

composer --version

If Composer is installed successfully, it will display the version.

Install Composer on macOS

Step 1: Install Homebrew (Optional)

If you don’t have Homebrew installed, you can install it first. Homebrew is a package manager for macOS.

1. Open the terminal and run:

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

2. Verify Homebrew installation:

brew --version

Step 2: Install Composer

1. Open the terminal and run the following commands to download

and install Composer:
Step 2.1: Download Composer installer:

php -r "copy('https://getcomposer.org/installer', 'composer-setup.php');"

Step 2.2: Verify the installer (optional):

php -r "if (hash_file('sha384', 'composer-setup.php') === file_get_contents('https://composer.github.io/installer.sig')) { echo 'Installer verified'; } else { echo 'Installer corrupt'; unlink('composer-setup.php'); } echo PHP_EOL;"

Step 2.3: Install Composer:

php composer-setup.php

Step 2.4: Remove the installer file:

php -r "unlink('composer-setup.php');"

2. Move the composer binary to make it globally accessible:

sudo mv composer.phar /usr/local/bin/composer

Step 3: Verify the Installation

1. Open the terminal and type:

composer --version

If Composer is installed successfully, it will display the version.

Alternative (Using Homebrew)

If you have Homebrew, you can install Composer directly:

1. Run:

brew install composer

2. Verify the installation:

composer --version