Piper: Laravel-Style Array and String Helpers for PHP's Pipe Operator

PHP 8.5 introduced the pipe operator (|>), which passes the value on its left as the argument to the callable on its right. It works with any single-argument callable, but PHP's built-in functions and Laravel's chainable classes weren't designed around it. Piper fills that gap: it ports Laravel's collection and string methods into standalone, curried functions made to sit on the right side of a pipe.

#Working on plain values

Laravel's Collection and Stringable are method-chainable because you're working with a wrapper object: you collect() going in and call ->all() or ->toString() coming out. Piper takes a different route suited to the pipe operator — its functions operate directly on native arrays and strings:

use function Spatie\Piper\Arr\{filter, map, values, join};
 
$result = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
    |> filter(fn (int $i) => $i % 2 === 0)
    |> map(fn (int $i) => pow($i, 2))
    |> values()
    |> join(', ', ', and ');
 
// "4, 16, and 36"

There's no wrapper instance in that pipeline. Each function takes an array, returns an array (or in the case of join(), a string), and the pipe operator threads the value through. It's a style that fits the |> syntax, and a natural companion to Collection when you're already working with native values.

#Functions are curried for the pipe

Each Piper helper is written so that calling it with its configuration arguments returns a closure waiting for the value being piped. filter(fn (int $i) => $i % 2 === 0) doesn't filter anything on its own — it returns a callable that filters whatever array arrives via |>. That's what lets replace('world', 'Piper') read naturally inside a chain:

use function Spatie\Piper\Str\{lower, replace};
 
$greeting = 'Hello, World!'
    |> lower()
    |> replace('world', 'Piper');
 
// "hello, Piper"

#Mixing array and string steps

Because the functions pass native values, an array step and a string step belong to the same pipeline. A list can be reduced to a string partway through and keep going:

use function Spatie\Piper\Arr\{map, join};
use function Spatie\Piper\Str\{upper, prefix};
 
$headline = ['laravel', 'news']
    |> map(fn (string $word) => ucfirst($word))
    |> join(' ')
    |> upper()
    |> prefix('>> ');
 
// ">> LARAVEL NEWS"

The Arr namespace covers helpers like filter, map, values, and join; the Str namespace covers lower, upper, replace, prefix, suffix, and others. The method names and behavior mirror Laravel's, so the API is already familiar if you've used Illuminate\Support.

#Installation

Piper requires PHP 8.5 for the pipe operator. Install it with Composer:

composer require spatie/piper

Then import the functions you need from the Spatie\Piper\Arr and Spatie\Piper\Str namespaces.

Full documentation is available on the Spatie docs site, and the source is on GitHub.