Code Snippets
Short, copy-pasteable answers to problems that come back around, each one checked against the current version rather than the one it was written for.
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10/28/2026
PHP loadHTML Garbles UTF-8: Characters Turn Into é
DOMDocument::loadHTML reads text without an encoding hint as Latin-1, so accents and symbols break. Four ways to fix it, with the result of each.
10/08/2026
PHP: Check Every Image on a Page for Broken URLs
A PHP command-line script that lists every img on a page and reports each image's HTTP status. It exits non-zero when any are broken, so it works in a deploy check.
10/06/2026
Find Broken Images on a Website: Three Free Ways
Three free ways to find images that do not load: the browser's network panel, a one-line console snippet, and a checker that reads a whole page at once.
09/27/2026
Java sealed interfaces and record patterns in a switch
A switch over a sealed interface lets javac prove every case is handled. Record patterns, when guards, and why adding default quietly turns that off.
09/27/2026
JavaScript fetch timeout: AbortSignal.timeout() and any()
fetch() has no timeout option. AbortSignal.timeout() adds one, AbortSignal.any() combines it with a cancel button, and err.name tells the two apart.
09/27/2026
jQuery 4: "$.trim is not a function" and other removed APIs
jQuery 4 removed $.trim, $.isArray, $.parseJSON and more, so old plugins throw "is not a function". Native replacements, Migrate, and a narrow shim.
09/27/2026
MySQL: get the latest row per group with ROW_NUMBER()
Get the latest row per group in MySQL 8+ with ROW_NUMBER(). Why MAX() subqueries and self-joins return duplicates on ties, and the tie-breaker to add.
09/27/2026
Run TypeScript in Node.js without a build (type stripping)
Node 24 runs .ts files directly by stripping types, with no ts-node or tsx. What works, the syntax that fails, the import rules, and the tsconfig to use.
09/27/2026
Convert WebP to JPG or PNG in PHP
Load with imagecreatefromwebp(), save with imagejpeg() or imagepng(). For JPG, paint onto white first or transparent pixels turn black.
09/27/2026
Doctrine addJoin? Use join() or leftJoin()
Doctrine's QueryBuilder has no addJoin() method. Use join() or leftJoin(), then addSelect() the alias to fetch the related entity in one query.
09/27/2026
Twig strict_variables: errors or silent null
strict_variables makes Twig throw on a missing variable, attribute or method instead of using null. Symfony turns it on in dev and off in prod.
09/02/2026
An Angular auth interceptor, the functional way
Attach a token to every outgoing request and handle a 401 in one place, using the functional HttpInterceptorFn rather than the class-based interceptor most search results still show.
09/02/2026
Grouping and summarizing a list in modern Java
Collectors.groupingBy with a downstream collector replaces most of the loop-and-map code people still write - plus records, which remove the class that loop needed.
09/02/2026
Reading a huge file line by line in Node, without loading it
readFileSync on a 2GB log is how a Node process dies. Streaming it line by line uses a constant few kilobytes instead, and is barely more code.
09/02/2026
Reading a huge CSV in PHP without exhausting memory
file() and str_getcsv on a large export will hit the memory limit. Streaming it with fgetcsv uses a few kilobytes regardless of file size, and handles quoted newlines correctly.
09/02/2026
Retrying an HTTP request in Python, properly
A retry with exponential backoff and jitter that only retries what is worth retrying - and does not hammer a service that is already struggling.
09/02/2026
is_granted in Twig: roles and IS_AUTHENTICATED
is_granted takes more than roles, and picking the wrong one gives you a check that quietly passes when it should not. What each attribute tests, why role hierarchy makes ROLE_USER true for your admins, and where the check belongs.
09/02/2026
Leaving FOSUserBundle: what replaces each piece
The bundle is maintained only enough for existing projects to migrate off it. Every piece it provided now has a replacement in Symfony itself or in two small bundles - and the migration is mostly deletion.
09/02/2026
Rendering a Symfony form field by field in Twig
One call renders the whole form and gives you no say in the markup. Splitting it up is four functions, and the one that matters most is form_rest - the safety net that stops a forgotten field from silently disappearing.
09/02/2026
Twig autoescaping and the raw filter
Autoescaping makes Twig safe by default and makes |raw the fastest way to undo that. The catch is that HTML escaping is only correct in HTML - inside a script tag or an unquoted attribute, the default is the wrong answer.
09/02/2026
The N+1 you wrote in a Twig loop, and its fix
The query looks fine and the template looks fine. Together they issue one query per row, because a lazy association is loaded the moment a template touches it - and templates touch things the controller never did.
08/23/2025
Angular 19 CLI commands worth memorizing
Here are the top Angular 19 CLI commands every developer should know since you will likely use them every day. Click here to get your free Angular 19 Cheat Sheet & Study Guide!
08/23/2025
Convert PNG and JPEG to WebP with a PHP script
A short GD script that converts a folder to WebP, preserves PNG transparency, and - the part usually missing - keeps the original whenever the WebP comes out larger, which happens more than you would think.
08/17/2025
Why is school car-line pickup still typed in by hand?
Here’s a practical application that can help schools with parent pickup and reduce unpleasant tasks and time burdening school staff.
07/04/2019
Rendering a Twig template outside a controller
You do not need a controller to render Twig, and you should not pass the container around to get at it. Inject the Environment, and use createTemplate when the template itself comes from the database.
![Diagram: a passing check on $_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] beside a failing check on isset($_POST['agree']), an unticked checkbox that a browser never sends.](/media/cover-php-was-form-posted-card-400x225.webp)
12/28/2015
Checking whether a form was posted, in PHP
Testing for a field is the common way and it is wrong: a browser sends nothing at all for an unticked checkbox, so the form looks unsubmitted. Test the method instead.
12/27/2015
Require at least one checkbox, in plain JavaScript
Check so at least one checkbox on your form is checked before it’s allowed to submit:
12/26/2015
A simple cURL wrapper for calling any API
Since you likely interface with a lot of external APIs, there’s no need to keep rewriting the same tool. Just copy this and use the “apiBaseController” class as you need it.
06/11/2015
Adding a form error from a controller in Symfony
Some checks cannot live in a constraint because they need something the form does not know about. FormError attaches the message to a field, or to the form itself, so it renders where the user is looking.
04/02/2015
How to show or access cookie values in Symfony Twig views
Strange how obscure it is to find a clear example of how to just access or show the value of a cookie in Twig, so here it is!
01/01/2015
Reading the current locale in Symfony
The locale lives on the Request, not in a global. How to reach it from a controller, from a service that has no request, and from a template - and where it is set before any of that.
01/01/2015
Limiting a Doctrine query with setMaxResults
Here is an example of a simple DQL query in a custom repository method meant to return a single array result. The following will return the latest result in case there are multiple contact records that match the…
12/21/2014
MySQL: exclude a whole group when any row matches
Querying databases get a little tricky when you have a stack of records associated with another table, perhaps a master table of accounts, and you’re trying to filter out values that would exclude the results from…
11/19/2014
A card expiry month/year field in Symfony
The old answer was to render DateType's day dropdown and hide it with CSS. That works until somebody uses a screen reader. Two choice fields and a small transformer do the job honestly.
11/16/2014
Disable the WordPress theme and plugin file editor
To tighten security of your WordPress site, you can disable users’ ability to edit your theme and plug-in files. After all, isn’t that what your web development team should be doing?
09/04/2014
Doctrine's equivalent of SQL IN()
MySQL’s “IN” query filter is very useful. Basically, if you have a list of record ID numbers, you can query them all neatly like so:
08/20/2014
invalid_message: what a failed transformer shows
A transformer that cannot convert what was typed throws, and Symfony turns that into a message the user reads. Left alone it says nothing useful; invalid_message is where you replace it.
08/06/2014
CollabPress: project management inside WordPress
Some people are so enamored with these shiny new project management tools that load so nicely on our smart phones that they forget it should be a transparent part of the project and not a task and part of the process of…
06/24/2014
Symfony collection prototype: formatting it in Twig
Let’s say you are creating a form in Symfony that has some dynamic fields that you need to allow the user to add and remove a subset of options and fields from within the form.
03/16/2014
Need multiple contact forms on your WordPress website?
There are plenty of contact form plug-ins for WordPress. I’ve used a few that I thought would be good but turned out to be barely functional, clunky, and/or buggy.
03/15/2014
Redirect a webpage with PHP
Three lines, and three ways to get it wrong: output before the header, no exit after it, and a 301 the browser then caches forever. Which status you choose matters more than the code does.
03/08/2014
A WordPress shortcode that lists posts or pages
In WordPress, you can do a lot with shortcodes, the problem is, some work fine then one day they just break. It’s best to stick with ones that work reliably, even when you upgrade.
02/26/2014
Make elements match heights across a row
There are some new CSS tricks coming out that will allow for this to be done natively, but until then, here’s a way to make sure that all elements in a page, say gallery thumbnails or excerpts from posts, all display…
02/26/2014
Including a PHP file from a WordPress shortcode, safely
The 2014 version of this shortcode takes a file path out of the post and includes it, which is a local file inclusion hole with extra steps. The fix is small: let the code decide which files are includable, not the person writing the post.
02/26/2014
Turn on WordPress Debugging
When you’re in development mode, it’s useful to get errors in scripts as they occur. Just place this line anywhere in your functions.php file for your active child theme and you will start seeing debug feedback complete…
02/25/2014
Remove the markup WordPress adds after a comment form
Find the line in your child theme’s “comment.php” file where it calls on the function comment_form() and replace that line with this:
11/19/2013
Knowing whether a Doctrine insert or update worked
Doctrine has no return value to check after flush() - it signals failure by throwing. Wrapping it is the right instinct, but the version of this snippet that has been circulating since 2013 catches nothing at all.