Linux Notepad

Uninstall PHP Composer

This guide explains how to completely remove Composer from your system. These instructions are specifically for systems where Composer was installed using the official installation method from getcomposer.org.

Before proceeding with the uninstallation, you might want to check your Composer version and installation path:

which composer
composer --version

The Linux distribution used was Debian 12 (Bookworm), but it should work on other Debian-based systems, like Ubuntu.

Uninstallation Commands

For a quick uninstallation, use one of these commands depending on your installation type:

For local installation:

rm composer.phar

For global installation:

sudo rm /usr/local/bin/composer

Complete Removal Process

To thoroughly remove Composer and all its associated files, follow these steps:

1. Find all Composer-related files

sudo find / -name composer 2>/dev/null

This command will typically show files in locations such as:

/usr/local/bin/composer
/home/username/.cache/composer
/home/username/.config/composer
/home/username/.local/share/composer
/root/.cache/composer
/root/.config/composer
/root/.local/share/composer

If you have files that require exclussion, you can use the grep command to filter the results:

sudo find / -name composer 2>/dev/null | grep -v "/var/www"

This command will exclude any files located in the /var/www directory. Change the path to exclude the directories you want.

2. Remove all Composer files and directories

WARNING: Be absolutely certain about deleting these files before proceeding!

To remove all files at once:

sudo find / -name composer -exec rm -R {} -r \+;

Alternatively, you can remove files individually using:

sudo rm -rf /usr/local/bin/composer
sudo rm -rf ~/.cache/composer
sudo rm -rf ~/.config/composer
sudo rm -rf ~/.local/share/composer
sudo rm -rf /root/.cache/composer
sudo rm -rf /root/.config/composer
sudo rm -rf /root/.local/share/composer

3. Verify removal

After uninstallation, verify that Composer is no longer present:

composer --version

This command should return a "command not found" error if Composer was successfully removed.

Additional Notes

  • Always backup any important project-specific Composer configurations before uninstalling
  • If you have active projects using Composer, make sure to document their dependencies before removal
  • Some projects may maintain their own local Composer installations which won't be affected by this global uninstallation

The uninstallation process is reversible - you can always reinstall Composer later if needed using the official installation method.

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