PHPColor provides several entry points for converting strings and other inputs into concrete color objects.

This is the most common way to create a color. It supports all standard CSS notations, hexadecimal strings, and modern color functions.

use PhpColor\Color\Color;

$c1 = Color::parse('#ff6600');
$c2 = Color::parse('rgb(255 0 0)');
$c3 = Color::parse('oklch(60% 0.15 250)');

If you have a value that might already be a ColorInterface or a string, Color::from() is the safest way to ensure you have a color object.

$color = Color::from($input); // $input can be a string or ColorInterface

To avoid exceptions, use tryFrom(), which returns null if the input cannot be parsed.

$color = Color::tryFrom('invalid'); // Returns null

For advanced use cases where you need to parse expressions that are resolved later (like CSS variables or light-dark() functions), use the CssColor parser.

use PhpColor\Color\Css\CssColor;

$expr = CssColor::parse('var(--brand, blue)');
// Returns a resolvable expression instead of a concrete color

When Color::parse() or Color::from() fail, they throw a ParseException.

use PhpColor\Color\Exception\ParseException;

try {
    $color = Color::parse('not-a-color');
} catch (ParseException $e) {
    // Handle error
}

Next: Formatting Colors