Completely validate URL with or without http or https

Question

I've done some researching on validating URLs in PHP and found that there are many different answers on StackOverflow, some better than others, and some very old and outdated.

I have a field where users can input their website's url. The user should be able to enter the URL in any form, for example:

example.com
www.example.com
http://example.com
http://www.example.com
https://example.com
https://www.example.com

PHP comes with a function to validate URLs, however, it marks the URL as invalid if it doesn't have http://.

How can I validate any sort of URL, with or without http:// or https://, that would ensure the URL is valid?

Thanks.

Check out parse_url() as a function to explode the URL into components, you could then fix up any thing you need to, and then stitch it all back together for validation. Someone wrote a unparse_url() function in the user comments. — Scuzzy
– Scuzzy, Commented Dec 18, 2013 at 22:18
Check if string starts with http, if it does not, append it. — Hanlet Escaño
– Hanlet Escaño, Commented Dec 18, 2013 at 22:19
@Scuzzy: parse_url() is a highly unfit choice to start any form of URL validation. It is incredibly hard to find any input that doesn't make it through parase_url(). Even strings with several schemata and linebreaks make it through. — DaSourcerer
– DaSourcerer, Commented Dec 18, 2013 at 22:26

AbraCadaver · Accepted Answer · 2019-06-21 14:18:25Z

25

Use filter_var() as you stated, however, by definition a URL must contain a protocol. Using just http will check for https as well:

$url = strpos($url, 'http') !== 0 ? "http://$url" : $url;

Then:

if(filter_var($url, FILTER_VALIDATE_URL)) {
    //valid
} else {
    //not valid
}

edited Jun 21, 2019 at 14:18

answered Dec 18, 2013 at 22:18

AbraCadaver

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5 Comments

ibnɘꟻ Over a year ago

Unfortunately, this will return true although $url = '0812345'. It will add prefix 'http://' and filter_var('http://0812345', FILTER_VALIDATE_URL) will return true. Any suggestion solution?

AbraCadaver Over a year ago

@fendiSetiawan What makes you think that’s not a valid URL?

ibnɘꟻ Over a year ago

Sure, if I run parse_url('http://0812345') it will return '0812345' as hostname. Technically, it's true. But, if user visit that url, it will return not found. Since it's not IP address or domain with TLD. I expect some validation that return true only if it's valid IP address or url website with TLD (example.com). Am I get wrong here? Or Am I just not knowing how url are called "valid"?

AbraCadaver Over a year ago

There’s valid and then there’s existing or reachable. There should be a question somewhere that addresses that. If not then ask one. You can post the link here as I have some ideas.

ibnɘꟻ Over a year ago

Ah... I see... The "unreachable URL" is what I looking for. Thank you for your help. Sorry if my question make some miss-understanding. Thanks.

James Binford · Accepted Answer · 2013-12-18 22:21:37Z

3

I've also seen this used:

$url = "http://example.com";
if (preg_match("/\b(?:(?:https?|ftp):\/\/|www\.)[-a-z0-9+&@#\/%?=~_|!:,.;]*[-a-z0-9+&@#\/%=~_|]/i", $url)) {
  echo "URL is valid";
}
else {
  echo "URL is invalid";
}

Source: http://codekarate.com/blog/validating-url-php

answered Dec 18, 2013 at 22:21

James Binford

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4 Comments

AbraCadaver Over a year ago

Because filter_var($url, FILTER_VALIDATE_URL); is too long?

HamZa Over a year ago

Validating this kind of stuff is way much complexer

James Binford Over a year ago

Because filter_var isn't available before 5.2, and because it doesn't handle dashes well.

Raheel Over a year ago

in 7 it does handle dashes

Popouerk · Accepted Answer · 2020-05-21 06:45:58Z

0

You can create a custom validation rule then add the following method in it :

protected function prepareForValidation()
{
        $urlWithHttp = strpos($this->url, 'http') !== 0 ? "http://$this->url" : $this->url;

        $this->merge([
            'url' => $urlWithHttp,
        ]);

}

answered May 21, 2020 at 6:45

Popouerk

111 bronze badge

Comments

Chris Russo · Accepted Answer · 2024-05-09 23:04:30Z

0

The question is from a decade ago, and my answer might might not be applicable for all cases, but probably the best approach is to send a small request to the url and see if it works.

answered May 9, 2024 at 23:04

Chris Russo

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Comments

Daniel · Accepted Answer · 2013-12-18 22:40:01Z

-2

You could also let html validate the url:

Website: <input type="url" name="website" required pattern="https?://.+">

answered Dec 18, 2013 at 22:40

Daniel

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2 Comments

S. Saad Over a year ago

Client side validation should never be trusted.

S. Saad Over a year ago

@Aniket Chowdhury Here's why your answer is out of topic: 1. OP mentions he'd looking for a way to do said validation in PHP 2. Even if we disregard the above, "Let the html validate the url" implies, in the context of the question asked by OP, to let the front end do the validation and accept it at the backend, which is totally not acceptable. Whether front end validation should or should not be done is not the matter at hand, hence the flag.

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