Validation

• Basic Usage
• Working With Error Messages
• Available Validation Rules
• Custom Error Messages
• Custom Validation Rules

Note: This is the Validation class from Laravel with slight modifications.

Basic Usage

Basic Validation Example

$validator = Validator::make(
    array('username' => 'dayle'),
    array('username' => 'required|alpha_dash|min:3')
);

The first argument passed to the make method is the data under validation. The second argument is the validation rules that should be applied to the data.

Validating Multiple Fields

$validator = Validator::make(
    array(
        'username' => 'dayle',
        'password' => 'mypassword',
        'email' => 'email@example.com'
    ),
    array(
        'name' => 'required',
        'password' => 'required|between:4,30',
        'email' => 'required|email|unique:users'
    )
);

Once a Validator instance has been created, the fails (or passes) method may be used to perform the validation.

if ($validator->fails()) {
    // The given data did not pass validation
}

If validation has failed, you may retrieve the error messages from the validator.

$messages = $validator->messages(); 

You may also access an array of the failed validation rules, without messages. To do so, use the failed method:

$failed = $validator->failed();

Working With Error Messages

After calling the messages method on a Validator instance, you will receive a MessageBag instance, which has a variety of convenient methods for working with error messages.

Retrieving The First Error Message For A Field

echo $messages->first('email');

Retrieving All Error Messages For A Field

foreach ($messages->get('email') as $message) {
    //
}

Retrieving All Error Messages For All Fields

foreach ($messages->all() as $message) {
    //
}

Determining If Messages Exist For A Field

if ($messages->has('email')) {
    //
}

Retrieving An Error Message With A Format

echo $messages->first('email', '<p>:message</p>');

Retrieving All Error Messages With A Format

foreach ($messages->all('<li>:message</li>') as $message) {
    //
}

Available Validation Rules

Below is a list of all available validation rules and their function:

• Accepted
• Active URL
• After (Date)
• Alpha
• Alpha Dash
• Alpha Numeric
• Array
• Before (Date)
• Between
• Boolean
• Confirmed
• Date
• Date Format
• Different
• Digits
• Digits Between
• E-Mail
• Exists (Database)
• Image (File)
• In
• Integer
• IP Address
• Max
• Min
• Not In
• Numeric
• Regular Expression
• Required
• Required If
• Required With
• Required With All
• Required Without
• Required Without All
• Same
• Size
• Timezone
• Unique (Database)
• URL

accepted

The field under validation must be yes, on, or 1. This is useful for validating "Terms of Service" acceptance.

active_url

The field under validation must be a valid URL according to the checkdnsrr PHP function.

after:date

The field under validation must be a value after a given date. The dates will be passed into the PHP strtotime function.

alpha

The field under validation must be entirely alphabetic characters.

alpha_dash

The field under validation may have alpha-numeric characters, as well as dashes and underscores.

alpha_num

The field under validation must be entirely alpha-numeric characters.

array

The field under validation must be of type array.

before:date

The field under validation must be a value preceding the given date. The dates will be passed into the PHP strtotime function.

between:min,max

The field under validation must have a size between the given min and max. Strings, numerics, and files are evaluated in the same fashion as the size rule.

confirmed

The field under validation must have a matching field of foo_confirmation. For example, if the field under validation is password, a matching password_confirmation field must be present in the input.

date

The field under validation must be a valid date according to the strtotime PHP function.

date_format:format

The field under validation must match the format defined according to the date_parse_from_format PHP function.

different:field

The given field must be different than the field under validation.

digits:value

The field under validation must be numeric and must have an exact length of value.

digits_between:min,max

The field under validation must have a length between the given min and max.

boolean

The field under validation must be able to be cast as a boolean. Accepted input are true, false, 1, 0, "1" and "0".

email

The field under validation must be formatted as an e-mail address.

exists:table,column

The field under validation must exist on a given database table.

Basic Usage Of Exists Rule

'email' => 'exists:users'

Specifying A Custom Column Name

'email' => 'exists:users,email_address'

You may also specify more conditions that will be added as "where" clauses to the query:

'email' => 'exists:users,email,id,1'

Passing NULL as a "where" clause value will add a check for a NULL database value:

'email' => 'exists:users,email,display_name,NULL'

image

The file under validation must be an image (jpeg, png, bmp, or gif)

in:foo,bar,...

The field under validation must be included in the given list of values.

integer

The field under validation must have an integer value.

ip

The field under validation must be formatted as an IP address.

max:value

The field under validation must be less than or equal to a maximum value. Strings, numerics, and files are evaluated in the same fashion as the size rule.

min:value

The field under validation must have a minimum value. Strings, numerics, and files are evaluated in the same fashion as the size rule.

not_in:foo,bar,...

The field under validation must not be included in the given list of values.

numeric

The field under validation must have a numeric value.

regex:pattern

The field under validation must match the given regular expression.

Note: When using the regex pattern, it may be necessary to specify rules in an array instead of using pipe delimiters, especially if the regular expression contains a pipe character.

required

The field under validation must be present in the input data.

required_if:field,value

The field under validation must be present if the field field is equal to value.

required_with:foo,bar,...

The field under validation must be present only if any of the other specified fields are present.

required_with_all:foo,bar,...

The field under validation must be present only if all of the other specified fields are present.

required_without:foo,bar,...

The field under validation must be present only when any of the other specified fields are not present.

required_without_all:foo,bar,...

The field under validation must be present only when the all of the other specified fields are not present.

same:field

The given field must match the field under validation.

size:value

The field under validation must have a size matching the given value. For string data, value corresponds to the number of characters. For numeric data, value corresponds to a given integer value. For files, size corresponds to the file size in kilobytes.

timezone

The field under validation must be a valid timezone identifier according to the timezone_identifiers_list PHP function.

unique:table,column,except,idColumn

The field under validation must be unique on a given database table. If the column option is not specified, the field name will be used.

Basic Usage Of Unique Rule

'email' => 'unique:users'

Specifying A Custom Column Name

'email' => 'unique:users,email_address'

Forcing A Unique Rule To Ignore A Given ID

'email' => 'unique:users,email_address,10'

Adding Additional Where Clauses

You may also specify more conditions that will be added as "where" clauses to the query:

'email' => 'unique:users,email_address,NULL,id,account_id,1'

In the rule above, only rows with an account_id of 1 would be included in the unique check.

url

The field under validation must be formatted as an URL.

Custom Error Messages

If needed, you may use custom error messages for validation instead of the defaults. There are several ways to specify custom messages.

Passing Custom Messages Into Validator

$messages = array(
    'required' => 'The :attribute field is required.',
);

$validator = Validator::make($input, $rules, $messages);

Notice: The :attribute place-holder will be replaced by the actual name of the field under validation. You may also utilize other place-holders in validation messages.

Other Validation Place-Holders

$messages = array(
    'same'    => 'The :attribute and :other must match.',
    'size'    => 'The :attribute must be exactly :size.',
    'between' => 'The :attribute must be between :min - :max.',
    'in'      => 'The :attribute must be one of the following types: :values',
);

Specifying A Custom Message For A Given Attribute

Sometimes you may wish to specify a custom error messages only for a specific field:

$messages = array(
    'email.required' => 'We need to know your e-mail address!',
);

Specifying Custom Messages In Language Files

In some cases, you may wish to specify your custom messages in a language file instead of passing them directly to the Validator. To do so, add your messages to custom array in the app/lang/xx/validation.php language file.

'custom' => array(
    'email' => array(
        'required' => 'We need to know your e-mail address!',
    ),
),

Custom Validation Rules

Registering A Custom Validation Rule

To specify some custom validation rules use the Validator::extend method:

Validator::extend('foo', function($attribute, $value, $parameters)
{
    return $value == 'foo';
});

The custom validator Closure receives three arguments: the name of the $attribute being validated, the $value of the attribute, and an array of $parameters passed to the rule.