What does sometimes validation rule truly mean? Confused.

Sometimes rule means when it's present.

This will only check if the email input is not empty and it's a valid email when it's present in the POST array.

$v = Validator::make($data, array(
    'email' => 'sometimes|required|email',
));

But this, will throw an error if you filled the input with a wrong email ( or if it's blank, because blank is not a valid email address, not sure though. )

$v = Validator::make($data, array(
    'email' => 'email',
));

And using sometimes with required will check if the key email is present in the POST array and then start validation For example, you may use the same FormRequest to create a user and update a user, when adding a user, the email is required, but on update you may not want them to change their email, so adding "sometimes" rule will do the job.

$v = Validator::make($data, array(
    'email' => 'sometimes|required|email',
));

Thanks @RachidLaasri. Trying to diguest your post now what about the following cases?

$v = Validator::make($data, array(
    'email' => 'sometimes|email',
));

and

$v = Validator::make($data, array(
    'email' => 'sometimes',
));

Also does the order make a difference?

$v = Validator::make($data, array(
    'email' => 'required|sometimes',
));

Thanks!

This will do nothing because there's no rules to validate against,because even if it's present in the POST array, you should specify rules. and the order don't make any difference.

$v = Validator::make($data, array(
    'email' => 'sometimes',
));

But this, will check if the email key present in the post array and then check if it's a valid email.

$v = Validator::make($data, array(
    'email' => 'sometimes|email',
));

For example, if your POST data is something like this

email  => 'somestring',
username => 'myusername',
password => 123456

This will fail because the email is present and it's not a valid email adresse But this will pass

email  => 'example@domain.com',
username => 'myusername',
password => 123456

and this one too because the email is not present and this is what sometimes means, only if it's present this check if it matches the other rules.

username => 'myusername',
password => 123456

And please note that this :

$v = Validator::make($data, array(
    'email' => 'required|email',
));

and this are completely different

$v = Validator::make($data, array(
    'email' => 'sometimes|required|email',
));

The first one, will fail in if :

1 - the email input is empty.
2 - the email is not a valid email address.
3 - you don't have an email input in your form.

but the second one will only fail if you have an input with a name of email and it'll ignore the rules if not.

Hi @RachidLaasri, thanks for the great help! Just 1 more question...

What is the difference between

$v = Validator::make($data, array(
    'email' => 'sometimes|email',
));

and

$v = Validator::make($data, array(
    'email' => 'email',
));

My guess is that there are no differences.

@polarcubs there's a difference as i see.

if your form is something like :

<form action="#" method="POST">
    <input type="text" name="email">
    <input type="password" name="password">
    <button name="login">Login</button>
</form>

and you entered a valid email address, both will pass, but if your form is

<form action="#" method="POST">
    <input type="text" name="username">
    <input type="password" name="password">
    <button name="login">Login</button>
</form>

the seconds one will fail. But the first one will pass, because there's no "email" input, and that's what sometimes means, ONLY if it exist in your POST array.

I would like to expand on the email check. It's doesn't check if it is a valid email, it checks if it is a valid email type of string.

Basically (more to it, but for brevity) it checks for an @ and . in the string. so example@example.com will pass the email validation but obviously the email is invalid as a working email.

Sometimes in the examples here would work if you allow EITHER a username or email as a login

You can check the array sent for an email type, if so use that to log in a user, if not check if it is the users username.

@jekinney @RachidLaasri Isn't sometimes rule a security issue? Let's say I have two forms. User creation and user update. I use the sometimes rule for an input. What happens if the user loads the page, deletes the input (or changes the name of the input) and then submits the page? Wouldn't sometimes just allow for the user to submit the creating form with a missing input and thus bypassing the validation?

@cristian9509 if the field is not optional then don't use sometimes.

To clarify one more time:

• If email field is not presented:

'email' => 'sometimes|required|email', // passes

'email' => 'email', // passes

• If email field is presented and is empty:

'email' => 'sometimes|required|email', // fails

'email' => 'email', // passes