phanalist

E0038: Method Call on Null

E0038 reports method calls on values that can be null. It is the null-method member of Phanalist’s bounded formal verification family (E0031-E0043). The family shares a Z3-backed engine that encodes path conditions and values, so a finding comes with a solver-backed counterexample rather than a heuristic guess.

What it checks

• Method calls on null and nullable values
• Nullness narrowed by if, switch, match, isset(), and short-circuit conditions
• Nullsafe calls (?->) are treated as safe
• PHPDoc parameter, @var, and return contracts
• Constant-return, identity, and method summaries

Model limits

E0038 shares the model limits, loop bounds, and interprocedural behavior described in E0031.

Configuration

rules:
  E0038:
    php_version: "8.4"
    check_nullability: true

See E0031 for the shared model limits, unknown_policy behavior, and per-code configuration.

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