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filter_var

(PHP 5 >= 5.2.0, PHP 7, PHP 8)

filter_var — Filters a variable with a specified filter

Description

filter_var(mixed $value, int $filter = FILTER_DEFAULT, array|int $options = 0): mixed

Filter a variable using a FILTER_VALIDATE_* validation filters, a FILTER_SANITIZE_* sanitization filters, or a custom filter.

Parameters

value
Value to filter.
Warning

Scalar values are converted to string internally before they are filtered.

filter
The filter to apply. Can be a validation filter by using one of the FILTER_VALIDATE_* constants, a sanitization filter by using one of the FILTER_SANITIZE_* or FILTER_UNSAFE_RAW, or a custom filter by using FILTER_CALLBACK.

Note: The default is FILTER_DEFAULT, which is an alias of FILTER_UNSAFE_RAW. This will result in no filtering taking place by default.

options
Either an associative array of options, or a bitmask of filter flag constants FILTER_FLAG_*. If the filter accepts options, flags can be provided by using the "flags" field of array.

Return Values

On success returns the filtered data. On failure false is returned, unless the FILTER_NULL_ON_FAILURE flag is used, in which case null is returned.

Examples

Example #1 A filter_var() example

<?php
var_dump(filter_var('[email protected]', FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL));
var_dump(filter_var('https://example.com', FILTER_VALIDATE_URL, FILTER_FLAG_PATH_REQUIRED));
?>

The above example will output:

string(15) "[email protected]"
bool(false)

Example #2 Example validating entries of an array

<?php
$emails = [
    "[email protected]",
    "[email protected]",
    "invalidemail"
];

var_dump(filter_var($emails, FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL, FILTER_REQUIRE_ARRAY));
?>

The above example will output:

array(3) {
  [0]=>
  string(15) "[email protected]"
  [1]=>
  string(18) "[email protected]"
  [2]=>
  bool(false)
}

Example #3 Example of passing an array for options

<?php

$options = [
    'options' => [
        'min_range' => 10,
    ],
    'flags' => FILTER_FLAG_ALLOW_OCTAL,
];

var_dump(filter_var('0755', FILTER_VALIDATE_INT, $options));
var_dump(filter_var('011', FILTER_VALIDATE_INT, $options));

?>

The above example will output:

int(493)
bool(false)

Example #4 Providing flags either directly or via an array

<?php

$str = 'string';

var_dump(filter_var($str, FILTER_VALIDATE_BOOLEAN, FILTER_NULL_ON_FAILURE));
var_dump(filter_var($str, FILTER_VALIDATE_BOOLEAN, ['flags' => FILTER_NULL_ON_FAILURE]));

?>

The above example will output:

NULL
NULL

See Also

© 1997–2025 The PHP Documentation Group
Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License v3.0 or later.
https://www.php.net/manual/en/function.filter-var.php