Chris@0: The ReflectionDocBlock Component [![Build Status](https://secure.travis-ci.org/phpDocumentor/ReflectionDocBlock.png)](https://travis-ci.org/phpDocumentor/ReflectionDocBlock)
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Chris@0: 
Chris@0: Introduction
Chris@0: ------------
Chris@0: 
Chris@0: The ReflectionDocBlock component of phpDocumentor provides a DocBlock parser
Chris@0: that is 100% compatible with the [PHPDoc standard](http://phpdoc.org/docs/latest).
Chris@0: 
Chris@0: With this component, a library can provide support for annotations via DocBlocks
Chris@0: or otherwise retrieve information that is embedded in a DocBlock.
Chris@0: 
Chris@0: > **Note**: *this is a core component of phpDocumentor and is constantly being
Chris@0: > optimized for performance.*
Chris@0: 
Chris@0: Installation
Chris@0: ------------
Chris@0: 
Chris@0: You can install the component in the following ways:
Chris@0: 
Chris@0: * Use the official Github repository (https://github.com/phpDocumentor/ReflectionDocBlock)
Chris@0: * Via Composer (http://packagist.org/packages/phpdocumentor/reflection-docblock)
Chris@0: 
Chris@0: Usage
Chris@0: -----
Chris@0: 
Chris@0: The ReflectionDocBlock component is designed to work in an identical fashion to
Chris@0: PHP's own Reflection extension (http://php.net/manual/en/book.reflection.php).
Chris@0: 
Chris@0: Parsing can be initiated by instantiating the
Chris@0: `\phpDocumentor\Reflection\DocBlock()` class and passing it a string containing
Chris@0: a DocBlock (including asterisks) or by passing an object supporting the
Chris@0: `getDocComment()` method.
Chris@0: 
Chris@0: > *Examples of objects having the `getDocComment()` method are the
Chris@0: > `ReflectionClass` and the `ReflectionMethod` classes of the PHP
Chris@0: > Reflection extension*
Chris@0: 
Chris@0: Example:
Chris@0: 
Chris@0:     $class = new ReflectionClass('MyClass');
Chris@0:     $phpdoc = new \phpDocumentor\Reflection\DocBlock($class);
Chris@0: 
Chris@0: or
Chris@0: 
Chris@0:     $docblock = <<<DOCBLOCK
Chris@0:     /**
Chris@0:      * This is a short description.
Chris@0:      *
Chris@0:      * This is a *long* description.
Chris@0:      *
Chris@0:      * @return void
Chris@0:      */
Chris@0:     DOCBLOCK;
Chris@0: 
Chris@0:     $phpdoc = new \phpDocumentor\Reflection\DocBlock($docblock);
Chris@0: