Display A Tree Natively

By Alexandre Daubois

<?php

$data = [
    'src' => [
        'Controller' => ['HomeController.php', 'ApiController.php'],
        'Entity' => ['User.php', 'Product.php'],
        'Kernel.php',
    ],
    'tests' => ['AppTest.php'],
    'composer.json',
];

$tree = new RecursiveTreeIterator(
    new RecursiveArrayIterator($data)
);

foreach ($tree as $line) {
    echo $line . "\n";
}

// Output:
// |-src
// | |-Controller
// | | |-HomeController.php
// | | \-ApiController.php
// | |-Entity
// | | |-User.php
// | | \-Product.php
// | \-Kernel.php
// |-tests
// | \-AppTest.php
// \-composer.json

// (also works with RecursiveDirectoryIterator!)

PHP has a built-in ASCII tree renderer. In the SPL.

RecursiveTreeIterator takes any recursive structure (arrays, directories, XML…) and outputs a formatted indented tree.

tree command behavior. In PHP. Since 5.3.

Pretty sure I would have use it a few times if I knew it existed 😅.

See Also

• RecursiveTreeIterator (PHP manual)

• RecursiveIterator (PHP manual)

• tree and iterator [Try me]

PHP Features

• iterator

• tree

• render

Last updated: 14 July 2026