Package validator
================
[](https://gitter.im/go-playground/validator?utm_source=badge& utm_medium=badge& utm_campaign=pr-badge& utm_content=badge)
[](https://semaphoreci.com/joeybloggs/validator)
[](https://coveralls.io/github/go-playground/validator?branch=v8-development)
[](https://godoc.org/gopkg.in/go-playground/validator.v8)
Package validator implements value validations for structs and individual fields based on tags.
It has the following **unique** features:
- Cross Field and Cross Struct validations by using validation tags or custom validators.
- Slice, Array and Map diving, which allows any or all levels of a multidimensional field to be validated.
- Handles type interface by determining it's underlying type prior to validation.
- Handles custom field types such as sql driver Valuer see [Valuer ](https://golang.org/src/database/sql/driver/types.go?s=1210:1293#L29 )
- Alias validation tags, which allows for mapping of several validations to a single tag for easier defining of validations on structs
Installation
------------
Use go get.
go get gopkg.in/go-playground/validator.v8
or to update
go get -u gopkg.in/go-playground/validator.v8
Then import the validator package into your own code.
import "gopkg.in/go-playground/validator.v8"
Error Return Value
-------
Validation functions return type error
They return type error to avoid the issue discussed in the following, where err is always != nil:
* http://stackoverflow.com/a/29138676/3158232
* https://github.com/go-playground/validator/issues/134
validator only returns nil or ValidationErrors as type error; so in you code all you need to do
is check if the error returned is not nil, and if it's not type cast it to type ValidationErrors
like so:
```go
err := validate.Struct(mystruct)
validationErrors := err.(validator.ValidationErrors)
```
Usage and documentation
------
Please see http://godoc.org/gopkg.in/go-playground/validator.v8 for detailed usage docs.
##### Examples:
Struct & Field validation
```go
package main
import (
"fmt"
"gopkg.in/go-playground/validator.v8"
)
// User contains user information
type User struct {
FirstName string `validate:"required"`
LastName string `validate:"required"`
Age uint8 `validate:"gte=0,lte=130"`
Email string `validate:"required,email"`
FavouriteColor string `validate:"hexcolor|rgb|rgba"`
Addresses []*Address `validate:"required,dive,required"` // a person can have a home and cottage...
}
// Address houses a users address information
type Address struct {
Street string `validate:"required"`
City string `validate:"required"`
Planet string `validate:"required"`
Phone string `validate:"required"`
}
var validate *validator.Validate
func main() {
config := & validator.Config{TagName: "validate"}
validate = validator.New(config)
validateStruct()
validateField()
}
func validateStruct() {
address := & Address{
Street: "Eavesdown Docks",
Planet: "Persphone",
Phone: "none",
}
user := & User{
FirstName: "Badger",
LastName: "Smith",
Age: 135,
Email: "Badger.Smith@gmail.com",
FavouriteColor: "#000",
Addresses: []*Address{address},
}
// returns nil or ValidationErrors ( map[string]*FieldError )
err := validate.Struct(user)
if errs != nil {
fmt.Println(errs) // output: Key: "User.Age" Error:Field validation for "Age" failed on the "lte" tag
// Key: "User.Addresses[0].City" Error:Field validation for "City" failed on the "required" tag
err := errs.(validator.ValidationErrors)["User.Addresses[0].City"]
fmt.Println(err.Field) // output: City
fmt.Println(err.Tag) // output: required
fmt.Println(err.Kind) // output: string
fmt.Println(err.Type) // output: string
fmt.Println(err.Param) // output:
fmt.Println(err.Value) // output:
// from here you can create your own error messages in whatever language you wish
return
}
// save user to database
}
func validateField() {
myEmail := "joeybloggs.gmail.com"
errs := validate.Field(myEmail, "required,email")
if errs != nil {
fmt.Println(errs) // output: Key: "" Error:Field validation for "" failed on the "email" tag
return
}
// email ok, move on
}
```
Custom Field Type
```go
package main
import (
"database/sql"
"database/sql/driver"
"fmt"
"reflect"
"gopkg.in/go-playground/validator.v8"
)
// DbBackedUser User struct
type DbBackedUser struct {
Name sql.NullString `validate:"required"`
Age sql.NullInt64 `validate:"required"`
}
func main() {
config := & validator.Config{TagName: "validate"}
validate := validator.New(config)
// register all sql.Null* types to use the ValidateValuer CustomTypeFunc
validate.RegisterCustomTypeFunc(ValidateValuer, sql.NullString{}, sql.NullInt64{}, sql.NullBool{}, sql.NullFloat64{})
x := DbBackedUser{Name: sql.NullString{String: "", Valid: true}, Age: sql.NullInt64{Int64: 0, Valid: false}}
errs := validate.Struct(x)
if len(errs.(validator.ValidationErrors)) > 0 {
fmt.Printf("Errs:\n%+v\n", errs)
}
}
// ValidateValuer implements validator.CustomTypeFunc
func ValidateValuer(field reflect.Value) interface{} {
if valuer, ok := field.Interface().(driver.Valuer); ok {
val, err := valuer.Value()
if err == nil {
return val
}
// handle the error how you want
}
return nil
}
```
Benchmarks
------
###### Run on MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013) 2.6 GHz Intel Core i7 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3 using Go 1.5
```go
$ go test -cpu=4 -bench=. -benchmem=true
PASS
BenchmarkFieldSuccess-4 5000000 296 ns/op 16 B/op 1 allocs/op
BenchmarkFieldFailure-4 5000000 294 ns/op 16 B/op 1 allocs/op
BenchmarkFieldDiveSuccess-4 500000 2529 ns/op 384 B/op 19 allocs/op
BenchmarkFieldDiveFailure-4 500000 3056 ns/op 768 B/op 23 allocs/op
BenchmarkFieldCustomTypeSuccess-4 3000000 443 ns/op 32 B/op 2 allocs/op
BenchmarkFieldCustomTypeFailure-4 2000000 753 ns/op 384 B/op 4 allocs/op
BenchmarkFieldOrTagSuccess-4 1000000 1334 ns/op 32 B/op 2 allocs/op
BenchmarkFieldOrTagFailure-4 1000000 1172 ns/op 416 B/op 6 allocs/op
BenchmarkStructSimpleCustomTypeSuccess-4 1000000 1206 ns/op 80 B/op 5 allocs/op
BenchmarkStructSimpleCustomTypeFailure-4 1000000 1737 ns/op 592 B/op 11 allocs/op
BenchmarkStructPartialSuccess-4 1000000 1367 ns/op 400 B/op 11 allocs/op
BenchmarkStructPartialFailure-4 1000000 1914 ns/op 800 B/op 16 allocs/op
BenchmarkStructExceptSuccess-4 2000000 909 ns/op 368 B/op 9 allocs/op
BenchmarkStructExceptFailure-4 1000000 1350 ns/op 400 B/op 11 allocs/op
BenchmarkStructSimpleCrossFieldSuccess-4 1000000 1218 ns/op 128 B/op 6 allocs/op
BenchmarkStructSimpleCrossFieldFailure-4 1000000 1783 ns/op 544 B/op 11 allocs/op
BenchmarkStructSimpleCrossStructCrossFieldSuccess-4 1000000 1806 ns/op 160 B/op 8 allocs/op
BenchmarkStructSimpleCrossStructCrossFieldFailure-4 1000000 2369 ns/op 576 B/op 13 allocs/op
BenchmarkStructSimpleSuccess-4 1000000 1161 ns/op 48 B/op 3 allocs/op
BenchmarkStructSimpleFailure-4 1000000 1813 ns/op 592 B/op 11 allocs/op
BenchmarkStructSimpleSuccessParallel-4 5000000 353 ns/op 48 B/op 3 allocs/op
BenchmarkStructSimpleFailureParallel-4 2000000 656 ns/op 592 B/op 11 allocs/op
BenchmarkStructComplexSuccess-4 200000 7637 ns/op 432 B/op 27 allocs/op
BenchmarkStructComplexFailure-4 100000 12775 ns/op 3128 B/op 69 allocs/op
BenchmarkStructComplexSuccessParallel-4 1000000 2270 ns/op 432 B/op 27 allocs/op
BenchmarkStructComplexFailureParallel-4 300000 4328 ns/op 3128 B/op 69 allocs/op
```
How to Contribute
------
There will always be a development branch for each version i.e. `v1-development` . In order to contribute,
please make your pull requests against those branches.
If the changes being proposed or requested are breaking changes, please create an issue, for discussion
or create a pull request against the highest development branch for example this package has a
v1 and v1-development branch however, there will also be a v2-development branch even though v2 doesn't exist yet.
I strongly encourage everyone whom creates a custom validation function to contribute them and
help make this package even better.
License
------
Distributed under MIT License, please see license file in code for more details.
