Laravel Filter Var

A Laravel package for filtering and sanitizing request variables with a chainable, customizable filter system.

Features

• Chain multiple filters (e.g., trim, uppercase, cast) in a single call.
• Built-in filters for common tasks (e.g., strip_tags, escape, format_date).
• Support for custom filters via configuration.
• Seamless integration with Laravel's service container and facade system.

Requirements

• PHP: 8.3 or higher
• Laravel: 10.x, 11.x or 12.x
• Composer: Required for installation

Installation

Install the package via Composer:

composer require aporat/laravel-filter-var

The service provider (FilterVarServiceProvider) is automatically registered via Laravel’s package discovery. If you’ve disabled auto-discovery, add it manually to config/app.php:

'providers' => [
    // ...
    \Aporat\FilterVar\FilterVarServiceProvider::class,
],

Optionally, register the facade for cleaner syntax:

'aliases' => [
    // ...
    'FilterVar' => Aporat\FilterVar\Laravel\Facades\FilterVar::class,
],

Publish the configuration file to customize filters:

php artisan vendor:publish --provider="Aporat\FilterVar\Laravel\FilterVarServiceProvider" --tag="config"

This copies config/filter-var.php to your Laravel config directory.

Usage

Basic Filtering

Filter and sanitize a request variable using the facade:

use Aporat\FilterVar\Laravel\Facades\FilterVar;

$userAgent = FilterVar::filterValue('cast:string|trim|strip_tags|escape', $request->header('User-Agent'));

This:

• Casts the input to a string.
• Trims whitespace.
• Removes HTML/PHP tags.
• Escapes special HTML characters.

Available Filters

Filter	Description	Example Input	Example Output
capitalize	Capitalizes words (title case)	hello world	Hello World
cast:<type>	Casts to a type (e.g., int, string, bool)	123.45 (cast:int)	123
digit	Extracts digits only	abc123xyz	123
escape	Escapes HTML special characters	<p>Hello &</p>	&lt;p&gt;Hello &amp;&lt;/p&gt;
filter_if	Conditional check on array key/value	['key' => 'val']	true/false
format_date	Reformats a date string	2023-01-15	15/01/2023
lowercase	Converts to lowercase	HELLO	hello
strip_tags	Removes HTML/PHP tags	<b>Hello</b>	Hello
trim	Trims whitespace	hello	hello
uppercase	Converts to uppercase	hello	HELLO
validate_email	Validates email format	[email protected]	[email protected]
validate_url	Validates URL format	https://example.com	https://example.com
cast_to_boolean	Casts input to boolean	true, false	true, false
sanitize_number_int	Keeps only digits	abc123	123
sanitize_number_float	Keeps digits and decimals	abc12.3xyz	12.3
remove_whitespace	Removes all whitespace	a b c	abc
slugify	Converts string into URL-friendly slug	Hello World!	hello-world
normal_string	Strips tags and keeps A-Z, 0-9, space, -:_.	<script>alert(1)</script>	alert1

Chaining Filters

Chain multiple filters using the | separator:

$result = FilterVar::filterValue('trim|uppercase|cast:string', '  hello world  ');
// Returns: "HELLO WORLD"

Custom Filters

Add custom filters by editing config/filter-var.php:

return [
    'custom_filters' => [
        'media_real_id' => \App\Filters\MediaRealId::class,
    ],
];

Define the custom filter class:

namespace App\Filters;

use Aporat\FilterVar\Contracts\Filter;

class MediaRealId implements Filter
{
    public function apply(mixed $value, array $options = []): string
    {
        $value = (string) $value;
        return str_contains($value, '_') ? explode('_', $value, 2)[0] : $value;
    }
}

Use it:

$result = FilterVar::filterValue('media_real_id', '11111_22222');
// Returns: "11111"

Using Without Facade

Resolve from the container:

$result = app('filter-var')->filterValue('trim', '  hello  ');
// Returns: "hello"

Testing

Run the test suite:

composer test

Generate coverage reports:

composer test-coverage

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please:

1. Fork the repository.
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature).
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m "Add amazing feature").
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature).
5. Open a pull request.

See CONTRIBUTING.md for details.

License

This package is open-sourced under the MIT License. See the License File for more information.

Support

• Issues: GitHub Issues
• Source: GitHub Repository