I'm currently using PhpStorm by Idea JetBrains, but its buggy and I'm really looking for something that will allow me to get work done without too much hassle.
Please limit one IDE/Editor an answer.
10 Answers
Netbeans is a great IDE with lots of PHP support. I can't even start to name all the features I use but there are a fair amount. Check it out here:
I've used both Eclipse for Java and Netbeans for PHP and I feel Netbeans is a bit stronger for PHP as well as XHTML and CSS. That's my personal preference anyways.
Looking at PHPStorm I assume you're looking for something similar to it, so a full IDE. Netbeans and Eclipse are the closest to that as far as I'm familiar with.
Netbeans has most, if not all, the features that PhpStorm has on that page plus a whole lot more.
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1also I'm not aware of one feature that Eclipse has over Netbeans for PHP and Web Development. I'm very interested it there is one Sep 16, 2010 at 20:28
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1+1 because I've tried so many IDEs I don't even dare to remember..and NetBeans is the best, great balance between features and usability. If you just want an editor, then (G)Vim, but it has a learning curve (well worth it). Additionally, you can install jVi plugin for NetBeans and have the best of both worlds. Sep 19, 2010 at 20:05
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3+1 because Netbeans has all the features you need for (PHP) programming: code completion, phpdoc, debugging, svn/git/cvs support, local history, etc. etc– eddy147Sep 23, 2010 at 6:54
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+1 for Netbeans because it supports debugging with XDebug, and useful features like "Go to defintion" or "Find usages", that you expect to find in a good Development IDE.– StefanoOct 18, 2011 at 20:06
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Geany 
This is an advanced editor/lightweight IDE with lots of features. Like Gedit, it has syntax highlighting for PHP and is extendible through plugins. It has some more advanced features than Gedit such as code folding. It can be installed from the repositories by installing the package geany and optionally geany-plugins.
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I use Geany for virtually all my Development (which is mostly PHP) Sep 16, 2010 at 21:40
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+1 to geany. The newer version can be installed from launchpad.net/~geany-dev/+archive/ppa Sep 17, 2010 at 6:52
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I also use Geany for editing occasional PHP pages, but for main projects not comparable with Netbeans.– StefanoOct 18, 2011 at 20:07
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I use Geany too for PHP Development. Scribble (note anything) and terminal (especially for accessing mysql from command line) are the most helpful feature that's provided. Nov 16, 2012 at 15:20
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When you double-click on a PHP variable in Geany, the dollar is not selected (BTW, the same holds for Bluefish). To me, this is a clear indicator that Geany (and Bluefish) cannot be taken seriously as a PHP editor. Dec 28, 2012 at 18:55
vim
Well, you have to work a little at the start to make it an IDE but it's great once you do it. It has GUI version called GVim as well. Install it with
sudo apt-get install vim-gtk
here are some tips on making it work with PHP and here are the list of plugins you can use to enhance vim to better work with php.
Gedit
This comes pre-installed with Ubuntu and is simple and lightweight. It has syntax highlighting for a very large number of languages including PHP. It is extensible using plugins.
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1Please split your answer up to one item a post so people can vote appropriately. Sep 16, 2010 at 20:20
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Gedit + plugins is the equivalent to what Notepad++ in Windows would be if it didn't have so much unnecessary featuritis cruft included in the default install. Just be sure to disable the "File Browser Pane" plugin. It is known to have a bug that causes gedit to take a lot longer to startup. Sep 17, 2010 at 8:54
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I use gedit for my PHP work - I don't think it needs something as heavyweight as Netbeans. Sep 23, 2010 at 18:01
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How can i customize gedit to match the highlighting scheme in the screenshot?– NESJan 1, 2011 at 16:23
Bluefish
This is another good editor that supports PHP and is more web-focused than Gedit or Geany so may be more suitable for PHP. You can install it from the package bluefish.
I suggest using the Eclipse PHP development tools
You can use the same IDE on all systems and in addition to the simple features of a text editor you get all the additional stuff that you need for larger projects: context aware code completion, refactoring, integration of versioning systems, issue tracking, deployment to remote servers and much other stuff.
I'm using both Komodo Edit and Geany.
Komodo is (imho) better but is a bit too weighty, especially with big files that reference many other files (in your file includes another one, Komodo scan it to get the function/classes it contains and offer them in the auto-completition function).
For big files I use geany; it's really fast and complete.
Try a slightly pimped version of gEdit. This the way to do it:
sudo apt-get install gedit gedit-plugins
cd ~/Downloads
git clone http://github.com/gmate/gmate.git
cd gmate
sh ./install.sh
With the plugins you can enhance even more.
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Add Ubuntu on Rails PPA: sudo apt-add-repository ppa:ubuntu-on-rails/ppa sudo apt-get update Note: on Karmic use add-apt-repository instead of apt-add-repository. Install gedit-gmate package: sudo apt-get install gedit-gmate– lrkwzOct 25, 2013 at 22:14
I use Eclipse with Aptana
After having installed Aptana you can add some additional plugin, as php development tools, subclipse etc.