diff --git a/doc/php_syntax_check.sh b/doc/php_syntax_check.sh
index b91074d483..608f7540c0 100755
--- a/doc/php_syntax_check.sh
+++ b/doc/php_syntax_check.sh
@@ -10,8 +10,12 @@ cd `dirname $0`
 cd ..
 
 # exclude old / not used PEAR Autoloader giving PHP Fatal error:  Method PEAR_Autoloader::__call() must take exactly 2 arguments
+# exclude composer conditional included autoload_static.php, as it requires PHP 5.6+
 
-find ${@-.} -name '*.php' ! -path '*vendor/pear-pear.php.net/PEAR/PEAR/Autoloader.php' -exec php -l {} \; 2>&1 | \
+find ${@-.} -name '*.php' \
+	-a ! -path '*vendor/pear-pear.php.net/PEAR/PEAR/Autoloader.php' \
+	-a ! -path '*vendor/composer/autoload_static.php' \
+	-exec php -l {} \; 2>&1 | \
 	#grep -v 'No syntax errors detected in' | \
-	grep '^PHP' | \
-	perl -pe 'END { exit $status } $status=1 if /^PHP (Fatal|Parse error)/;'
+	egrep '^(PHP|Parse error)' | \
+	perl -pe 'END { exit $status } $status=1 if /^(PHP Fatal|(PHP )?Parse error)/;'