FILTER_VALIDATE_URL filter to validate URL with query string & Path

Validate a URL

FILTER_VALIDATE_URL checks URL syntax. Add flags only for requirements that are actually part of your application rules.

$url = 'https://www.example.com/docs';
var_dump(filter_var($url, FILTER_VALIDATE_URL));

$url='https://www.example'; //Change this value to check different URL

if(filter_var($url,FILTER_VALIDATE_URL)){
echo " Correct ,   URL Validation passed ";
}else{
echo " Wrong , URL Validation failed ";
}

We can validate a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) by using FILTER_VALIDATE_URL function in PHP.

In the above code we can get the message that Correct, URL Validation passed. Same way you can change the data and get the staus.

Optional Flags

FILTER_FLAG_SCHEME_REQUIRED - additional check of RFC compliant (like http://example)
FILTER_FLAG_HOST_REQUIRED - additional check of host name (like http://www.example.com
FILTER_FLAG_PATH_REQUIRED - additional check of path to domain name (like www.example.com/php_tutorial/)
FILTER_FLAG_QUERY_REQUIRED - With a query string (like "example.php?id=34&cat=student&class=Four")

FILTER_FLAG_SCHEME_REQUIRED & FILTER_FLAG_HOST_REQUIRED are deprecated in PHP 7.3 as they are included within FILTER_VALIDATE_URL.

Validating URL with path

We can add one optional flag FILTER_FLAG_PATH_REQUIRED to check if any path is added after the URL. Without presence of a path this validation will fail. This flag checks minimum one forward slash ( / ) after the URL to be present. Here is the code

if(filter_var($_GET['url'],FILTER_VALIDATE_URL,FILTER_FLAG_PATH_REQUIRED)){
echo " Correct ,   URL Validation passed ";
}else{
echo " Wrong , URL Validation failed ";
}

Here is the list of URL which will pass and which will fail in the validation.

https://example.com         // Wrong, URL Validation failed 
https://example.com/path/filename.htm  // Correct validation passed
https://example.com/                   // Correct validation passed

Validating URL with query string

With the optional flag of FILTER_FLAG_QUERY_REQUIRED we can validate URL only if a valid query string is present ( along with URL ) . Here is the code to check

if(filter_var($_GET['url'],FILTER_VALIDATE_URL,FILTER_FLAG_QUERY_REQUIRED)){
echo " Correct ,   URL Validation passed ";
}else{
echo " Wrong , URL Validation failed ";
}

Here is a list of URL which will pass and which will fail the URL validation process

https://example.com       // Wrong, URL Validation failed 
https://example.com?id=5        // Correct validation passed
https://example.com/             // Wrong, URL Validation failed

Filter reference Validating IP address Sanitize URL Validating Email address

Subhendu Mohapatra

Author & Instructor at plus2net

I write and maintain practical tutorials on Python, PHP, SQL, JavaScript, HTML, jQuery, and web development at plus2net. The tutorials focus on clear explanations, working examples, and code that readers can test and adapt while learning.

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