Validation

The Validator class provides a simple, extensible way to validate input data.

Basic Usage

$validator = Validator::make($request->all(), [
    'name'     => 'required|string|max:255',
    'email'    => 'required|email|max:255',
    'password' => 'required|min:8|confirmed',
]);

if ($validator->fails()) {
    return redirect('/register')
        ->withErrors($validator->errors())
        ->withInput();
}

// Validation passed

Available Rules

Rule	Description
required	Field must be present and non-empty
email	Must be a valid email address
min:N	Minimum length (string) or value (numeric) or count (array)
max:N	Maximum length, value, or count
numeric	Must be a number
integer	Must be an integer
string	Must be a string
boolean	Must be true/false/0/1
alpha	May only contain letters
alpha_num	May only contain letters and numbers
url	Must be a valid URL
ip	Must be a valid IP address
date	Must be a valid date (parsable by strtotime)
confirmed	Must match {field}_confirmation
same:field	Must match another field
different:field	Must differ from another field
in:a,b,c	Must be one of the given values
not_in:a,b,c	Must not be one of the given values
array	Must be an array
nullable	Field is optional (skips other rules when null)
regex:/pattern/	Must match the regex pattern

Rule Arrays

Rules can also be specified as arrays:

$validator = Validator::make($request->all(), [
    'name'     => ['required', 'string', 'max:255'],
    'email'    => ['required', 'email'],
    'password' => ['required', 'min:8'],
]);

Custom Error Messages

$validator = Validator::make($request->all(), [
    'email' => 'required|email',
], [
    'email.required' => 'We need your email address.',
    'email.email'    => 'That does not look like a valid email.',
]);

Custom Rules

Validator::extend('strong_password', function ($field, $value, $params, $data) {
    return (bool) preg_match('/[A-Z]/', $value) && strlen($value) >= 8;
}, 'The :attribute is not strong enough.');

// Usage
$validator = Validator::make($request->all(), [
    'password' => 'required|strong_password',
]);

Validation Errors

$errors = $validator->errors();
// ['email' => ['The email field is required.'], 'name' => ['...']]

$first = $validator->firstError();
$first = $validator->firstError('email');

$all   = $validator->all();
// ['The email field is required.', 'The name field is required.']

In Practice

A common pattern with redirects:

Route::post('/register', function ($request) {
    $validator = Validator::make($request->all(), [
        'name'     => 'required|string|max:255',
        'email'    => 'required|email|max:255',
        'password' => 'required|min:8|confirmed',
    ]);

    if ($validator->fails()) {
        return redirect('/register')
            ->withErrors($validator->errors())
            ->withInput();
    }

    $user = Auth::register($request->only(['name', 'email', 'password']));
    Auth::login($user);
    return redirect('/dashboard')->with('success', 'Account created!');
});

In views, errors are automatically displayed when flashed:

@if (session('_errors'))
    <ul>
        @foreach (session('_errors') as $field => $errors)
            @foreach ($errors as $error)
                <li>{{ $error }}</li>
            @endforeach
        @endforeach
    </ul>
@endif