# Faker
[](https://codecov.io/gh/fzaninotto/Faker)
Faker is a PHP library that generates fake data for you. Whether you need to bootstrap your database, create good-looking XML documents, fill-in your persistence to stress test it, or anonymize data taken from a production service, Faker is for you.
Faker is heavily inspired by Perl's [Data::Faker](http://search.cpan.org/~jasonk/Data-Faker-0.07/), and by ruby's [Faker](https://rubygems.org/gems/faker).
Faker requires PHP >= 5.3.3.
[](https://packagist.org/packages/fzaninotto/faker) [](https://travis-ci.org/fzaninotto/Faker) [](https://insight.sensiolabs.com/projects/eceb78a9-38d4-4ad5-8b6b-b52f323e3549)
# Table of Contents
- [Installation](#installation)
- [Basic Usage](#basic-usage)
- [Formatters](#formatters)
- [Base](#fakerproviderbase)
- [Lorem Ipsum Text](#fakerproviderlorem)
- [Person](#fakerprovideren_usperson)
- [Address](#fakerprovideren_usaddress)
- [Phone Number](#fakerprovideren_usphonenumber)
- [Company](#fakerprovideren_uscompany)
- [Real Text](#fakerprovideren_ustext)
- [Date and Time](#fakerproviderdatetime)
- [Internet](#fakerproviderinternet)
- [User Agent](#fakerprovideruseragent)
- [Payment](#fakerproviderpayment)
- [Color](#fakerprovidercolor)
- [File](#fakerproviderfile)
- [Image](#fakerproviderimage)
- [Uuid](#fakerprovideruuid)
- [Barcode](#fakerproviderbarcode)
- [Miscellaneous](#fakerprovidermiscellaneous)
- [Biased](#fakerproviderbiased)
- [Html Lorem](#fakerproviderhtmllorem)
- [Modifiers](#modifiers)
- [Localization](#localization)
- [Populating Entities Using an ORM or an ODM](#populating-entities-using-an-orm-or-an-odm)
- [Seeding the Generator](#seeding-the-generator)
- [Faker Internals: Understanding Providers](#faker-internals-understanding-providers)
- [Real Life Usage](#real-life-usage)
- [Language specific formatters](#language-specific-formatters)
- [Third-Party Libraries Extending/Based On Faker](#third-party-libraries-extendingbased-on-faker)
- [License](#license)
## Installation
```sh
composer require fzaninotto/faker
```
## Basic Usage
### Autoloading
Faker supports both `PSR-0` as `PSR-4` autoloaders.
```php
<?php
# When installed via composer
require_once 'vendor/autoload.php';
```
You can also load `Fakers` shipped `PSR-0` autoloader
```php
<?php
# Load Fakers own autoloader
require_once '/path/to/Faker/src/autoload.php';
```
*alternatively, you can use any another PSR-4 compliant autoloader*
### Create fake data
Use `FakerFactory::create()` to create and initialize a faker generator, which can generate data by accessing properties named after the type of data you want.
```php
<?php
// use the factory to create a FakerGenerator instance
$faker = FakerFactory::create();
// generate data by accessing properties
echo $faker->name;
// 'Lucy Cechtelar';
echo $faker->address;
// "426 Jordy Lodge
// Cartwrightshire, SC 88120-6700"
echo $faker->text;
// Dolores sit sint laboriosam dolorem culpa et autem. Beatae nam sunt fugit
// et sit et mollitia sed.
// Fuga deserunt tempora facere magni omnis. Omnis quia temporibus laudantium
// sit minima sint.
```
Even if this example shows a property access, each call to `$faker->name` yields a different (random) result. This is because Faker uses `__get()` magic, and forwards `FakerGenerator->$property` calls to `FakerGenerator->format($property)`.
```php
<?php
for ($i = 0; $i < 10; $i++) {
echo $faker->name, "
