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InitPHP Validation — Wiki

Welcome to the official documentation for initphp/validation — a fast, dependency-free data-validation library for PHP 8.1+.

You describe what each field should look like with a small rule DSL, callbacks, or your own named rules, and get back localized error messages.

composer require initphp/validation

use InitPHP\Validation\Validation;

$validation = new Validation([
    'name' => 'Muhammet',
    'year' => '2022',
]);

$valid = $validation
    ->rule('name', 'required|string')
    ->rule('year', 'integer|range(1970...2099)')
    ->validation();

if (!$valid) {
    foreach ($validation->getError() as $message) {
        echo $message, "\n";
    }
}

The package in one table

Symbol	Role
Validation	The single entry point: holds the data, the rule queue, the errors and the active locale.
extend()	Register a reusable named rule usable from the DSL string.
ExceptionInterface	Marker implemented by every exception the package throws.
UndefinedRuleException	Thrown when a rule name is unknown — unknown rules fail loudly, they never silently pass.

Start here

• New to the package? Read Installation, then Quick Start.
• Want the mental model? The Validation Lifecycle explains the queue → validate → read loop.
• Looking for a rule? Every built-in rule is in the Rules Reference.
• Need custom logic? Callable & Custom Rules.
• Localizing messages? Error Messages and Localization.
• Coming from 1.x? Read Migration from 1.x — 2.0 is a breaking release.

What you get

• A readable rule DSL. Pipe rules together per field: "required|integer|range(1...10)". Arguments go in parentheses and are trimmed. See the Rules Reference.
• 30+ built-in rules for types, text, contact info, sizes, dates, patterns and comparisons.
• Callbacks and custom named rules. Drop in a closure for a one-off check, or register a reusable rule with extend().
• Localized messages. Ships with English and Turkish; placeholders, labels and per-rule overrides are all supported. See Localization.
• Fails loud, not silent. An unknown rule throws instead of quietly passing a field. See Exceptions.
• Zero runtime dependencies beyond ext-mbstring.

At a glance — a few rules

Rule	Passes	Fails
integer	"12", -3	"3.5", "abc"
mail	a@b.com	not-an-email
range(1970...2099)	2022	1900
length(3...20)	"hello"	"ab"
again(password)	confirm equals password	they differ
only(small, medium, large)	"Medium"	"xl"

Package metadata

• License: MIT
• Minimum PHP: 8.1
• Required extensions: ext-mbstring
• Runtime dependencies: none
• Packagist: initphp/validation
• Source: github.com/InitPHP/Validation
• Issues: github.com/InitPHP/Validation/issues
• Discussions: github.com/orgs/InitPHP/discussions

If something in this wiki is unclear, wrong, or out of date, open an issue — documentation fixes are merged eagerly.