CodeIgniter Form Validation Tutorial with Examples

Form validation is an essential part of any web application. It ensures that the data entered by users is correct, safe, and secure before saving it to the database.

CodeIgniter provides a powerful Form Validation Library that makes it easy to validate form inputs with simple rules.

🔹 Step 1: Load the Form Validation Library

Before using form validation, load the library in your controller:

$this->load->library('form_validation');

🔹 Step 2: Create a Simple HTML Form

Create a file application/views/form_view.php:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <title>Form Validation in CodeIgniter</title>
</head>
<body>
    <h2>User Registration</h2>
    <?php echo validation_errors(); ?>
    <?php echo form_open('FormController/register'); ?>

    <p>
        Name: <input type="text" name="name" value="<?php echo set_value('name'); ?>">
    </p>
    <p>
        Email: <input type="text" name="email" value="<?php echo set_value('email'); ?>">
    </p>
    <p>
        Password: <input type="password" name="password">
    </p>
    <p>
        <input type="submit" value="Register">
    </p>

    </form>
</body>
</html>

🔹 Step 3: Create Controller for Validation

Create application/controllers/FormController.php:

<?php
defined('BASEPATH') OR exit('No direct script access allowed');

class FormController extends CI_Controller {

    public function __construct() {
        parent::__construct();
        $this->load->library('form_validation');
    }

    public function index() {
        $this->load->view('form_view');
    }

    public function register() {
        // Validation rules
        $this->form_validation->set_rules('name', 'Name', 'required|min_length[3]');
        $this->form_validation->set_rules('email', 'Email', 'required|valid_email');
        $this->form_validation->set_rules('password', 'Password', 'required|min_length[6]');

        if ($this->form_validation->run() == FALSE) {
            // Reload form with error messages
            $this->load->view('form_view');
        } else {
            // Success message
            echo "Form Submitted Successfully!";
        }
    }
}

🔹 Step 4: Commonly Used Validation Rules

required → Field must not be empty
valid_email → Valid email format
min_length[n] → Minimum number of characters
max_length[n] → Maximum number of characters
numeric → Only numbers allowed
alpha → Only alphabets allowed
alpha_numeric → Alphabets + Numbers
matches[field] → Field must match another (e.g., confirm password)

Example:

$this->form_validation->set_rules('confirm_password', 'Confirm Password', 'required|matches[password]');

🔹 Step 5: Custom Error Messages

You can add custom error messages:

$this->form_validation->set_rules(
    'name', 'Name',
    'required',
    array('required' => 'You must provide a %s.')
);

🔹 Step 6: Set Delimiters for Error Messages

Customize error message display:

$this->form_validation->set_error_delimiters('<div class="error">', '</div>');

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