String Rules

String validation rules check the content and format of string values. All rules are Unicode-aware.

Rules Reference

Rule	Parameters	Example	Error Message
alpha	—	$v->rule('alpha', 'field')	{field} must contain only letters
alphaNum	—	$v->rule('alphaNum', 'field')	{field} must contain only letters and numbers
ascii	—	$v->rule('ascii', 'field')	{field} must contain only ASCII characters
slug	—	$v->rule('slug', 'field')	{field} must contain only letters, numbers, dashes and underscores
contains	substring, strict?	$v->rule('contains', 'field', 'text')	{field} must contain {0}
regex	pattern	$v->rule('regex', 'field', '/pattern/')	{field} is not valid
startsWith	prefix, caseSensitive?	$v->rule('startsWith', 'field', 'pre')	{field} must start with {0}
endsWith	suffix, caseSensitive?	$v->rule('endsWith', 'field', 'suf')	{field} must end with {0}
uuid	version?	$v->rule('uuid', 'field')	{field} must be a valid UUID
passwordStrength	minScore or config[]	$v->rule('passwordStrength', 'field', 6)	{field} must be a stronger password

Note: Parameters marked with ? are optional.

Notes

Unicode support: alpha, alphaNum accept Unicode letters. slug only allows a-z, 0-9, -, _.

Case sensitivity: contains, startsWith, endsWith are case-insensitive by default. Pass true as last param for strict matching.

Multiple values: startsWith, endsWith accept arrays: ['http://', 'https://'].

Regex security: Includes ReDoS protection - dangerous patterns throw RuntimeException.

UUID versions: 1 (time), 2 (DCE), 3 (MD5), 4 (random), 5 (SHA-1). Pass version as 2nd param or omit for any.

Parameter Details

passwordStrength

Accepts integer (minimum score 1-10) or configuration array:

Option	Type	Default	Description
minScore	int	6	Minimum strength score (1-10)
minLength	int	8	Minimum password length
requireUppercase	bool	false	Must contain A-Z
requireLowercase	bool	false	Must contain a-z
requireNumber	bool	false	Must contain 0-9
requireSymbol	bool	false	Must contain special char

Scoring: +1 per length tier (8+, 12+, 16+), +1.5 upper, +1.5 lower, +2 number, +2 symbol. Max 10.

// Simple
$v->rule('passwordStrength', 'password', 8);

// Full config
$v->rule('passwordStrength', 'password', [
    'minScore' => 7,
    'requireUppercase' => true,
    'requireNumber' => true
]);

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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);

$v->rules([
    'alpha' => [
        ['first_name'],
        ['last_name']
    ],
    'alphaNum' => [
        ['username']
    ],
    'ascii' => [
        ['product_code']
    ],
    'slug' => [
        ['url_slug']
    ],
    'contains' => [
        ['bio', 'developer']
    ],
    'regex' => [
        ['sku', '/^[A-Z]{2}-\\d{4}$/']
    ],
    'startsWith' => [
        ['website', 'https://']
    ],
    'endsWith' => [
        ['work_email', '@company.com']
    ],
    'uuid' => [
        ['user_id']
    ],
    'passwordStrength' => [
        ['password', 6]
    ]
]);

$v->validate();

Password Strength with Full Configuration

$v->rules([
    'passwordStrength' => [
        ['password', [
            'minScore' => 7,
            'minLength' => 10,
            'requireUppercase' => true,
            'requireLowercase' => true,
            'requireNumber' => true,
            'requireSymbol' => true
        ]]
    ]
]);

Field-Based Mapping

use Frostybee\Valicomb\Validator;

$v = new Validator($data);

$v->mapManyFieldsToRules([
    'username' => ['required', 'alphaNum', ['lengthBetween', 3, 20]],
    'first_name' => ['required', 'alpha'],
    'last_name' => ['required', 'alpha'],
    'bio' => ['optional', ['contains', 'developer']],
    'password' => ['required', ['passwordStrength', 7]],
    'website' => ['optional', ['startsWith', 'https://']],
    'work_email' => ['required', 'email', ['endsWith', '@company.com']]
]);

$v->validate();