Filter Functions
PHP Manual

filter_var_array

Gets multiple variables and optionally filters them

Description

mixed filter_var_array ( array $data [, mixed $definition [, bool $add_empty = true ]] )

This function is useful for retrieving many values without repetitively calling filter_var.

Parameters

data

An array with string keys containing the data to filter.

definition

An array defining the arguments. A valid key is a string containing a variable name and a valid value is either a filter type, or an array optionally specifying the filter, flags and options. If the value is an array, valid keys are filter which specifies the filter type, flags which specifies any flags that apply to the filter, and options which specifies any options that apply to the filter. See the example below for a better understanding.

This parameter can be also an integer holding a filter constant. Then all values in the input array are filtered by this filter.

add_empty

Add missing keys as NULL to the return value.

Return Values

An array containing the values of the requested variables on success, or FALSE on failure. An array value will be FALSE if the filter fails, or NULL if the variable is not set.

Examples

Example #1 A filter_var_array example

<?php
error_reporting(E_ALL | E_STRICT);
$data = array(
    'product_id'    => 'libgd<script>',
    'component'     => '10',
    'versions'      => '2.0.33',
    'testscalar'    => array('2', '23', '10', '12'),
    'testarray'     => '2',
);

$args = array(
    'product_id'   => FILTER_SANITIZE_ENCODED,
    'component'    => array('filter'    => FILTER_VALIDATE_INT,
                            'flags'     => FILTER_FORCE_ARRAY, 
                            'options'   => array('min_range' => 1, 'max_range' => 10)
                           ),
    'versions'     => FILTER_SANITIZE_ENCODED,
    'doesnotexist' => FILTER_VALIDATE_INT,
    'testscalar'   => array(
                            'filter' => FILTER_VALIDATE_INT,
                            'flags'  => FILTER_REQUIRE_SCALAR,
                           ),
    'testarray'    => array(
                            'filter' => FILTER_VALIDATE_INT,
                            'flags'  => FILTER_FORCE_ARRAY,
                           )

);

$myinputs = filter_var_array($data, $args);

var_dump($myinputs);
echo "\n";
?>

The above example will output:

array(6) {
  ["product_id"]=>
  string(17) "libgd%3Cscript%3E"
  ["component"]=>
  array(1) {
    [0]=>
    int(10)
  }
  ["versions"]=>
  string(6) "2.0.33"
  ["doesnotexist"]=>
  NULL
  ["testscalar"]=>
  bool(false)
  ["testarray"]=>
  array(1) {
    [0]=>
    int(2)
  }
}

Changelog

Version Description
5.4.0 Added add_empty parameter.

See Also