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  1. Debug with PhpStorm: Ultimate Guide
  2. Breakpoints

Breakpoints

Last modified: 19 March 2022

Breakpoints are special markers that suspend program execution at a specific point. This lets you examine the program state and behavior. Breakpoints can be simple (for example, suspending the program on reaching some line of code) or involve more complex logic (checking against additional conditions, writing log messages, and so on).

Once set, a breakpoint remains in your project until you remove it explicitly, except for temporary breakpoints).

tip

If a file with breakpoints was modified externally, for example, updated through a VCS or changed in an external editor, and the line numbers have changed, breakpoints will be moved accordingly. Note that PhpStorm must be running when such changes are made, otherwise they will pass unnoticed.

Types of breakpoints

The following types of breakpoints are available in PhpStorm:

  • Line breakpoints: suspend the program upon reaching the line of code where the breakpoint was set. This type of breakpoints can be set on any executable line of code.

  • Method breakpoints: suspend the program upon entering or exiting the specified method or one of its implementations, allowing you to check the method's entry/exit conditions.

  • Exception breakpoints: suspend the program when Exception or its subclasses are thrown. They apply globally to the exception condition and do not require a particular source code reference.

Set breakpoints

Set line breakpoints

  • Click the gutter at the executable line of code where you want to set the breakpoint. Alternatively, place the caret at the line and press Ctrl+F8.

    Line breakpoint

Set method breakpoints

  • Click the gutter at the line where the method is declared. Alternatively, place the caret at the line and press Ctrl+F8.

    Method breakpoint hit

    Alternatively, do the following:

    1. Press Ctrl+Shift+F8 or select Run | View Breakpoints from the main menu.

    2. In the Breakpoints dialog that opens, press Alt+Insert or click the Add button, and select PHP Method Breakpoints.

    3. In the Add Method Breakpoint dialog, specify the class and the method, or the plain function to add a breakpoint for.

Set exception breakpoints

  1. Click View Breakpoints View Breakpoints button in the left part of the Debug tool window or press Ctrl+Shift+F8.

  2. In the Breakpoints dialog, press Alt+Insert or click the Add button, and select PHP Exception Breakpoints or JavaScript Exception Breakpoint.

    creating an exception breakpoint

  3. In the Add Exception Breakpoint dialog, specify an exception class from a library or from your project.

See Debug with PHP exception breakpoints for details.

Resolved breakpoints

When using Xdebug, PhpStorm can employ its breakpoints resolving mechanism. Under this mechanism, the debugger evaluates whether PHP can generate internal executable bytecode for the current line. If no such code is generated for a line, the corresponding breakpoint cannot be hit. Xdebug will scan up to 5 subsequent lines, and stop at the line where executable code is located. Resolving breakpoints is supported in Xdebug 2.8 and later.

In the following example, no executable code can be located on line 4. The breakpoint is resolved to line 5, and the debugging session is suspended accordingly.

Resolved breakpoint in the editor

When a breakpoint is resolved, PhpStorm displays the corresponding notification.

Resolved breakpoint notification

If necessary, you can configure breakpoints resolving support in PhpStorm on the PHP | Debug page of the Settings/Preferences dialog (Ctrl+Alt+S):

  • In the Xdebug area, use the Resolve breakpoint if it's not available on the current line (Xdebug 2.8+) checkbox to toggle breakpoint resolving. Note that if resolving is disabled, the breakpoints set on the code lines without executable code will always be ignored.

  • In the Advanced settings area, use the Notify if breakpoint was resolved to a different line (Xdebug 2.8+) checkbox to choose whether PhpStorm should display a notification message when a breakpoint is resolved.

tip

To get an in-depth technical overview of how breakpoints resolving works, refer to this article and DBGP documentation.

Manage breakpoints

Remove breakpoints

  • For non-exception breakpoints: click the breakpoint in the gutter.

  • For all breakpoints: from the main menu, select Run | View Breakpoints Ctrl+Shift+F8, select the breakpoint, and click Remove Delete.

To avoid accidentally removing a breakpoint and losing its parameters, you can choose to remove breakpoints by dragging them to the editor or clicking the middle mouse button. To do this, go to Settings/Preferences | Build, Execution, Deployment | Debugger and select Drag to the editor or click with middle mouse button. Clicking a breakpoint will then enable or disable it.

Mute breakpoints

If you don't need to stop at your breakpoints for some time, you can mute them. This allows you to resume normal program operation without leaving the debugger session. After that, you can unmute breakpoints and continue debugging.

  • Click the Mute Breakpoints button Mute Breakpoints button in the toolbar of the Debug tool window.

Enable/disable breakpoints

When you remove a breakpoint, its internal configuration is lost. To temporarily turn an individual breakpoint off without losing its parameters, you can disable it:

  • For non-exception breakpoints: right-click it and set the Enabled option as required. You can also toggle them with the middle mouse button if removing breakpoints is not assigned to it.

  • For all breakpoints: click View Breakpoints Ctrl+Shift+F8 and check/uncheck the breakpoint on the list.

Move/copy breakpoints

  • To move a breakpoint, drag it to another line.

  • To copy a breakpoint, hold Ctrl and drag a breakpoint to another line. This creates a breakpoint with the same parameters at the destination.

Configure breakpoints' properties

Depending on the breakpoint type, you can configure additional properties which allow you to tailor its operation for specific needs. The most used options are available via intentions.

Intentions reference

Intention

Description

Remove breakpoint

Removes the breakpoint at the selected line.

Disable breakpoint

Disables the breakpoint at the selected line.

Edit breakpoint

Opens a dialog with the most used breakpoint properties. For more properties, click More or press Ctrl+Shift+F8.

Breakpoints' properties

Enabled

Suspend

Condition

Logging options

Remove once hit

Disable until hitting the following breakpoint

Breakpoint statuses

Breakpoints can have the following statuses:

Status

Description

Verified

After you have started a debugger session, the debugger checks whether it is technically possible to suspend the program at the breakpoint. If yes, the debugger marks the breakpoint as verified.

Warning

If it is technically possible to suspend the program at the breakpoint, however there are issues related to it, the debugger gives you a warning. This may happen, for example, when it is impossible to suspend the program at one of the method's implementations.

Invalid

If it is technically impossible to suspend the program at the breakpoint, the debugger marks it as invalid. The most common cause for this is that there is no executable code on the line.

Inactive/dependent

A breakpoint is marked as inactive/dependent when it is configured to be disabled until another breakpoint is hit, and this has not happened yet.

Muted

All breakpoints are temporarily inactive because they have been muted.

Disabled

This breakpoint is temporarily inactive because it has been disabled.

Non-suspending

The suspend policy is set for this breakpoint so that it does not suspend the execution when hit.

Breakpoint icons

Depending on their type and status, breakpoints are marked with the following icons:

Line

Method

Exception

Regular

line breakpoint

method breakpoint

exception breakpoint

Disabled

disabled line breakpoint

disabled method breakpoint

disabled exception breakpoint

Verified

verified line breakpoint

verified method breakpoint

Muted

muted line breakpoint

muted method breakpoint

Inactive/dependent

inactive/dependent line breakpoint

inactive/dependent method breakpoint

Muted disabled

muted disabled line breakpoint

muted disabled method breakpoint

Non-suspending

non-suspending line breakpoint

non-suspending method breakpoint

Verified non-suspending

verified non-suspending line breakpoint

verified non-suspending method breakpoint

Invalid

invalid breakpoint

Productivity tips

Use breakpoints for debug printing

Use non-suspending logging breakpoints (sometimes referred to as watchpoints in other debuggers) instead of inserting print statements in your code. This provides a more flexible and centralized way of handling debug log messages.

Set logging breakpoints more quickly

To set a non-suspending logging breakpoint, hold Shift and click the gutter. This will not suspend the program execution and instead log a message like Breakpoint reached: LineBreakpoint.php:10. If you want to log some expression that is in front of you in the editor, select it before holding Shift and clicking the gutter.

Add breakpoint descriptions

If you have many breakpoints in your project, you can add descriptions to breakpoints for ease of search. To do this, right-click a breakpoint in the Breakpoints dialog Ctrl+Shift+F8 and select Edit description from the menu. Now when you start typing the breakpoint name, it gets the focus.

Group breakpoints

You can organize breakpoints into groups, for example, if you need to mark out breakpoints for a specific problem. To do this, in the Breakpoints dialog Ctrl+Shift+F8, select a breakpoint you want to place in a group and select Move to group from the menu.

Jump to source

To jump from the Breakpoints dialog to the line of code where the selected breakpoint is set, press F4.

See also

Procedures