Array Rules

Array validation rules check array structure and content.

Rules Reference

Rule	Parameters	Example	Error Message
array	—	$v->rule('array', 'field')	{field} must be an array
in	values	$v->rule('in', 'field', ['a', 'b'])	{field} must be one of the allowed values
notIn	values	$v->rule('notIn', 'field', ['x', 'y'])	{field} must not be one of the disallowed values
listContains	value, strict?	$v->rule('listContains', 'field', 'val')	{field} must contain {0}
subset	values	$v->rule('subset', 'field', ['a', 'b'])	{field} must be a subset of the allowed values
containsUnique	—	$v->rule('containsUnique', 'field')	{field} must contain unique values
arrayHasKeys	keys	$v->rule('arrayHasKeys', 'field', ['a'])	{field} must contain all required keys

Note: Parameters marked with ? are optional.

Parameter Details

listContains

The strict parameter enables strict type comparison (===):

$v->rule('listContains', 'ids', '1');       // matches int 1
$v->rule('listContains', 'ids', '1', true); // doesn't match int 1

For associative arrays, checks keys not values.

arrayHasKeys

Only checks key existence, not value validity.

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Complete Examples

Valicomb supports two syntax styles: rule-based (map rules to fields) and field-based (map fields to rules).

Rule-Based Array Syntax

use Frostybee\Valicomb\Validator;

$v = new Validator($data);

$v->rules([
    'array' => [
        ['tags'],
        ['permissions']
    ],
    'in' => [
        ['status', ['pending', 'approved', 'rejected']],
        ['priority', ['low', 'medium', 'high']]
    ],
    'notIn' => [
        ['username', ['admin', 'root', 'system']],
        ['role', ['superadmin']]
    ],
    'listContains' => [
        ['permissions', 'read'],
        ['tags', 'featured']
    ],
    'subset' => [
        ['selected_colors', ['red', 'green', 'blue', 'yellow']],
        ['categories', ['tech', 'news', 'sports', 'entertainment']]
    ],
    'containsUnique' => [
        ['tags'],
        ['email_recipients']
    ],
    'arrayHasKeys' => [
        ['address', ['street', 'city', 'zip']],
        ['payment', ['method', 'amount']]
    ]
]);

$v->validate();

Field-Based Mapping

use Frostybee\Valicomb\Validator;

$v = new Validator($data);

$v->mapManyFieldsToRules([
    'status' => ['required', ['in', ['draft', 'published', 'archived']]],
    'tags' => ['required', 'array', 'containsUnique', ['subset', ['php', 'javascript', 'python', 'go']]],
    'permissions' => ['required', 'array', ['listContains', 'read']],
    'username' => ['required', ['notIn', ['admin', 'root', 'moderator']]],
    'address' => ['required', 'array', ['arrayHasKeys', ['street', 'city', 'country']]],
    'categories' => ['optional', 'array', ['subset', ['tech', 'news', 'lifestyle']]]
]);

$v->validate();