Are there any best practices or design patterns recommended for structuring PHP code to handle rule-based processing in a web application?

When handling rule-based processing in a web application, it is recommended to use the Strategy design pattern. This pattern allows you to define a family of algorithms, encapsulate each one, and make them interchangeable. By using this pattern, you can easily switch between different rule sets without changing the client code.

interface RuleInterface {
    public function applyRule($input);
}

class RuleA implements RuleInterface {
    public function applyRule($input) {
        // Implement rule A logic here
    }
}

class RuleB implements RuleInterface {
    public function applyRule($input) {
        // Implement rule B logic here
    }
}

class RuleProcessor {
    private $rule;

    public function setRule(RuleInterface $rule) {
        $this->rule = $rule;
    }

    public function process($input) {
        return $this->rule->applyRule($input);
    }
}

// Implementation
$ruleProcessor = new RuleProcessor();
$ruleProcessor->setRule(new RuleA());
$result = $ruleProcessor->process($input);