Install Composer on Ubuntu 22.04

Requirements

• Ubuntu 22.04.
• PHP. Check if it is installed:

php --version

If it is not, install PHP and the extensions Composer needs:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install php php-cli php-mbstring php-xml php-curl unzip -y

Check again:

php --version

Step 1: Download the installer

curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer -o composer-setup.php

For a secure install, check the hash of the file against the one published on the Composer website before you run it.

Step 2: Run the installer

php composer-setup.php

This creates the file composer.phar in the current folder.

Step 3: Move Composer to a global location

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

Remove the installer file:

rm composer-setup.php

Step 4: Check the installation

composer --version

Use Composer

Create a project or add a package:

composer init
composer require monolog/monolog

Install the packages of an existing project:

composer install

Update Composer itself:

sudo composer self-update

Benefits

• Manages the libraries of your PHP project and their versions.
• Autoloads classes, so you do not need many require lines.
• Makes projects easy to share and repeat.

Projects that use Composer

• Laravel, a popular PHP framework.
• Symfony, a high-performance framework.
• CodeIgniter 4, a light and friendly framework.
• WordPress tools, such as WP-CLI and Bedrock.

Quick recap

• Install PHP, download the installer and run it.
• Move composer.phar to /usr/local/bin/composer.
• Check with composer --version.