This definitely isn't limited to PHP. While there may be instances where 'helpers.xyz' is OK, they're very, very few and far between. When you create a file like that, you've conceded defeat at actually naming things usefully.
If 'logging.php' or something similar doesn't fit what you're doing, and it doesn't fit well with anything else in your project, and there's no other way that would fit in with something intrinsic to your app, then this might be OK. But that's kind of hard to fathom.
In my opinion, though -- while I agree that it's something to be avoided at many costs -- the real problem with this, as with many things, is overuse. I'm on at least one project right now where the unconscionable overuse of helper functions (an entire directory of them with questionable file names, actually) has turned a Django project into horrible spaghetti code.
It's definitely not an isolated incident. In all languages, if what you're doing has any kind of logical structure, it's worth taking pains to make sure things go in logical places. You'll thank yourself in the future, and so will your successors.
If 'logging.php' or something similar doesn't fit what you're doing, and it doesn't fit well with anything else in your project, and there's no other way that would fit in with something intrinsic to your app, then this might be OK. But that's kind of hard to fathom.
In my opinion, though -- while I agree that it's something to be avoided at many costs -- the real problem with this, as with many things, is overuse. I'm on at least one project right now where the unconscionable overuse of helper functions (an entire directory of them with questionable file names, actually) has turned a Django project into horrible spaghetti code.
It's definitely not an isolated incident. In all languages, if what you're doing has any kind of logical structure, it's worth taking pains to make sure things go in logical places. You'll thank yourself in the future, and so will your successors.