Regex Validator

This validator allows you to validate if a given string conforms a defined regular expression.

Supported options for Zend\Validator\Regex

The following options are supported for Zend\Validator\Regex:

  • pattern: Sets the regular expression pattern for this validator.

Validation with Zend\Validator\Regex

Validation with regular expressions allows to have complicated validations being done without writing a own validator. The usage of regular expression is quite common and simple. Let’s look at some examples:

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$validator = new Zend\Validator\Regex(array('pattern' => '/^Test/'));

$validator->isValid("Test"); // returns true
$validator->isValid("Testing"); // returns true
$validator->isValid("Pest"); // returns false

As you can see, the pattern has to be given using the same syntax as for preg_match(). For details about regular expressions take a look into PHP’s manual about PCRE pattern syntax.

Pattern handling

It is also possible to set a different pattern afterwards by using setPattern() and to get the actual set pattern with getPattern().

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$validator = new Zend\Validator\Regex(array('pattern' => '/^Test/'));
$validator->setPattern('ing$/');

$validator->isValid("Test"); // returns false
$validator->isValid("Testing"); // returns true
$validator->isValid("Pest"); // returns false