---
title: Customizing error grouping
description: Learn how to customize how errors are grouped in Honeybadger.
url: https://docs.honeybadger.io/lib/php/errors/customizing-error-grouping/
---

Honeybadger groups similar exceptions together using rules which we’ve found to work the best in most cases. The default information we use to group errors is:

1. The file name, method name, and line number of the error’s location
2. The class name of the error
3. The component/controller name

We use this information to construct a “fingerprint” of the exception. Exceptions with the same fingerprint are treated as the same error in Honeybadger.

You can customize the grouping for each exception by changing the error class name, component, or stack trace—or by sending a custom fingerprint.

The `fingerprint` option can be used to override the fingerprint for an exception reported with the `notify()` method:

```php
$honeybadger->notify(exception, $request, ['fingerprint' => 'a unique string'])
```

---

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