Filter

A secure filter class to wrap access to variables from untrusted sources like $_REQUEST or $_COOKIE.

• Filter a value
• Validate a value
• Using filter options
• Using multiple filters
• Available Filters
  • Boolean
  • DataTime
  • Email
  • Enum
  • Json
  • Money
  • Number
  • Passthrough
  • Path
  • PlainExt
  • Plain
  • Regexp
  • Strip
  • Test
  • Url

Filter a value

The Filter::filter() method filters the given value and returns the sanitized result. If value is an array, the filter function is applied to all elements of the array, even recursive.

// Filter variable $text with Strip filter.
$text  = Filter::filter($text, "strip");

Validate a value

The Filter::validate() method validates the given value and returns false if invalid. If value is an array, the validation check is applied to all elements of the array, the function will return false if any of the validated values inside the array is invalid.

// Check if variable $text does not contain any tags
$valid = Filter::validate($text, "strip");

Using filter options

You can set special options for the used filter as the fourth method parameter. Available options can be seen below. Most filters use an array of $key => $value pairs to configure their behaviour.

$value = Filter::filter($value, $filter, ["Parameter" => "Value"]);

Using multiple filters

You can use multiple filters and options in a queue and pass your value through them.

$value = Filter::filter($value, ["plain","strip","number], [ ["options" => "params"], ["options" => "params"], ["options" => "params"]]);

Using multiple values

You can use an array or multi-dimensional array of values with your filters and options. The test will be appied to the non-array values inside the array. Depending on the type option, the value has to be of this nature:

• tree a multidimensional array of at least one level of depth of values
• array an array of values
• single A single value

If no type is specified, anything is valid.

$value = Filter::filter($value, $filter, ["type" => single]);

Available Filters

You can specify any of the following filters for Filter. The name of the filter allways is identical to the first part of it's class name lowercase. (Example: "plain" means class "PlainFilter" in file "PlainFilter.php".

Boolean

Filters a value and returns it as a boolean value of true or false

Options

• true an array of values that are treated as true. Default: [ 1, "true", true ]
• strict Only allow exactly the allowed values for the true option above and false if not. Otherwise a simple cast to boolean is also enough.

DataTime

Validates or returns a formatted date-time string.

Options

• format the format to return datetime values in. Default: Y-m-d H:i:s
• timezone The timezone to use or false if none. Default: false

Email

Validates or filters a email value. (No options)

Enum

Allow only values from a fixed set of options.

Options

• values An array of allowed values. Default: []
• strict Allowed values must also have the matching type. default: false
• insensitive Allow case insensitive checks for strings. Default false
• autocorrect Return the matching value from the allowed array on a successfull match (possibly correcting wrong types and cases). Default: true

Json

Validate and optionally unserialize a inpout string with a JSON value.

Options

• format return the input in one of the following formats
  • 1 - JSON: Return untouched as the validated json string
  • 2 - DECODED: Return the decoded result as a multi dimensional array (not as stdClass objects)
  • 3 - SERIALIZED: return the input values as a php serialized string

Money

This filter is a shorthand version of the number filter. It is preconfigured with defaults usable for money. (See @Number for options)

Number

Filter or validate numbers with or without decimals. Note: The result will be a double, regardless of decimal counts.

Options

• min Value has to be a minimum of X. Default: false
• max Value has to be a maximum of X. default: false
• adjust If a min/max is specified, allow the number to be sanitized to this if needed. Default false
• decimals Round the result to this number of decimals. Default: false
• round Method to use when rounding. One of round, floor or ceil. This method will use bc library for rounding to avoid floar errors. default: round
• validate Fail if value was not a valid Number as defined in options. default: false

Passthrough

This filter allows any input without modification. Be carefull!

Options

• append append this fixed string to the input value. (This will fail validation though, as input differs from output.)

Path

A shorthand version of the PlainExt filter, preconfigured to allow any character usable in a file path.

Options

• characters Additional valid characters apart from the ones from selected charactersets. Default: none
• charactersets Charactersets to use. A combination can be used by adding the numbers:
  • 1 - BASIC: abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ1234567890._-
  • 2 - WINDOWS: \
  • 4 - UNIT: /
  • 7 - ALL: all of the above

PlainExt

A text filter, that allows certain characters, with preconfigured selectable charactersets.

Options

• characters Additional valid characters apart from the ones from selected charactersets. Default: none
• charactersets Charactersets to use. A combination can be used by adding the numbers:
  • 1 - BASIC: abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ1234567890
  • 2 - SIMPLE: ,.:-_()?!
  • 4 - GERMAN: äöüÄÖÜß
  • 8 - FRENCH: áéíóúàèìòùâêîôûÁÉÍÓÚÀÈÌÒÙÂÊÎÔÛ
  • 13 - INTERNATIONAL: Basic + German + French
  • 15 - ALL: all of the above

Plain

A simple text filter that only allows basic letters and numbers (A-Z a-z 0-9).

Regexp

A filter that validates according to a regular expession.

Options

• pattern The regular expression to use by preg_match. Example: /(dog|horse)shit$/i

Strip

A text filter that strips out html tags.

Options

• allowable_tags allowed tags. Only opening tags need to be specified. (See: http://php.net/manual/en/function.strip-tags.php)
• preserve_null return null instead of an empty string if the input string was null. Default: false

Test

A simple filter usable for unit tests. It tests input against one or more expected values.

Options

• expected One value or an array of values. Default: null
• error Return this value in case of an invalid input. Default: The normal behaviour of filters
• strict Check input with a type strict comparison.

Url

Check if input is a valid URL according to the parse_url method and configurable checks.

Options

• require Array of required url elements. One or more of (scheme, host, port, user, pass, root, path, query, fragment). Default: []
• disallow Array of disallowed url elements. One or more of (scheme, host, port, user, pass, root, path, query, fragment). Default: []
• schemes Array of allowed schemes if a scheme is found. Default: ["http","https"]
• type Short hand definitions for above options. One of (absolute, relative, root). Default: false