Rules

Define¶

Rules are defined in a field's rules attribute in the config array:

<?php

array(
    'first_name' => [
        'label' => 'First Name',
        'rules' => 'required|alpha_dash'
    ]
);

The field_name corresponds to the name attribute of a field:

1	<input name="first_name" type="text">

Optional Fields¶

Unless a field is specified as optional, it must pass all the defined validation rules.

For example, in this config, an empty email field would NOT be a valid email and would fail validation:

<?php

array(
    'email' => [
        'label' => 'Email',
        'rules' => 'email'
    ]
);

To make the field optional, so that it validates when empty, add the optional rule:

<?php

array(
    'email' => [
        'label' => 'Email',
        'rules' => 'optional|email'
    ]
);

In this case, validation will only verify the rules for the field if it is not empty.

Built-in¶

alpha¶

Input value must only contain alphabetic characters.

'alpha'

alpha_dash¶

Input value must only contain alphabetic characters, dashes, and underscores.

'alpha_dash'

alpha_num¶

Input value must only contain alphabetic and numeric characters.

'alpha_num'

array_type¶

Input value must be a PHP array.

'array_type'

between¶

Input value must be between a range.

Accepted ranges:

Numeric 'between:10,20'
Alphabetic 'between:a,f'
Date 'between:2010-01-01,2017-01-01'
strtotime 'between:yesterday,tomorrow'

'between:<start>,<end>'

boolean¶

Input value must be a boolean.

Accepted values:

true
false
'true'
'false'
0
1
'0'
'1'
'on'
'off'
'yes'
'no'

'boolean'

callback¶

Validate the input value using a callback.

The callback must return boolean.

'callback:some_function'

<?php

function some_function( $input ) {
    return ( 'whatever' === $input ) ? true : false;
}

More details

date¶

Input value must be a date.

Accepted values:

valid strtotime
instanceof DateTimeInterface
instanceof DateTime

'date'

You can also specify a format using date format characters, eg:'date:Y-m-d'

different¶

Input value must be different than the value of another field.

'different:other_field'

digit¶

Input value must be a digit

Accepts only 0 through 9

'digit'

email¶

Input value must be formatted like an email address.

'email'

equals¶

Input value must be equal to given value.

'equals:value'

integer¶

Input value must be an integer.

Accepts only positive/negative whole numbers.

'integer'

ip¶

Input value must be an IP address.

'ip'

length_max¶

Input value length must be less than given value

'length_max:value'

length_min¶

Input value length must be greater than given value

'length_min:value'

max¶

Input value must be less than the maximum.

Numeric: 'max:20'

Alphabetic: 'max:c'

Date: 'max:2017-06-30'

min¶

Input value must be greater than the minimum.

Numeric: 'min:20'

Alphabetic: 'min:c'

Date: 'min:2017-06-30'

numeric¶

Input value must be numeric.

Accepts whole, decimal, positive, and negative numbers

'numeric'

optional¶

The field is optional. All rules for the field will only be validated if field is not empty.

'optional'

phone¶

Input value must be formatted as a phone number.

Valid formats:

(555)555-5555
555 555 5555
+5(555)555.5555
33(1)22 22 22 22
+33(1)22 22 22 22
+33(020)7777 7777
03-6106666

'phone'

required¶

The field is required and must not be empty.

'required'

required_if¶

The field is required only if another field has a specific value.

'required_if:other_field,value'

required_with¶

The field is required only if another field is not empty.

'required_with:other_field'

same¶

Input value must be the same as the value of another field.

This is useful for password and email confirmation fields.

'same:other_field'

url¶

Input value must be formatted as a url.

'url'

Custom¶

Custom rules can be defined and validated with a callback function.

Define:

<?php

$my_form = array(
    'phone' => [
        'label' => 'Phone',
        'rules' => 'required|callback:wfv__phone'
    ],
);

Callback:

Create a callback that evaluates to true or false:

<?php
// phone field will validate only if the input is 'hi' ...how cruel

function wfv__phone( $value ) {
    return ( 'hi' === $value ) ? true : false;
}

Note

To prevent name collisions, it is advised to prefix the function name and/or wrap the function in a function_exists() conditional.