JSPM

A library of string validation, filtering and sanitization methods.

To install node-validator, use npm:

$ npm install validator

Example

var check = require('validator').check;
var convert = sanitize = require('validator').sanitize
    
//Validate
check('test@email.com').len(6, 64).isEmail();       //Methods are chainable
check('abc').isInt();                               //Throws 'Invalid integer'
check('abcdefghijklmnopzrtsuvqxyz').is(/^[a-z]+$/);

//Sanitize / Filter
var int = convert('0123').toInt();                  //123
var bool = convert('true').toBoolean();             //true
var str = sanitize(' \s\t\r hello \n').trim();      //'hello'
var str = sanitize('aaaaaaaaab').ltrim('a');        //'b'
var str = sanitize(large_input_str).xss();
var str = sanitize('&lt;a&gt;').entityDecode();     //'<a>'

List of validation methods

is()                            //Alias for regex()
not()                           //Alias for notRegex()
isEmail()
isUrl()                         //Accepts http, https, ftp
isIP()
isAlpha()
isAlphanumeric()
isNumeric()                     
isInt()                         //isNumeric accepts zero padded numbers, e.g. '001', isInt doesn't
isLowercase()
isUppercase()
isDecimal()
isFloat()                       //Alias for isDecimal
notNull()
isNull()
notEmpty()                      //i.e. not just whitespace
equals(equals)
contains(str)
notContains(str)
regex(pattern, modifiers)       //Usage: regex(/[a-z]/i) or regex('[a-z]','i')
notRegex(pattern, modifiers)
len(min, max)                   //max is optional

List of sanitization / filter methods

trim(chars)                     //Trim optional `chars`, default is to trim whitespace (\r\n\t\s)
ltrim(chars)                    
rtrim(chars)                    
ifNull(replace)
toFloat()
toInt()
toBoolean()		                //True unless str = '0', 'false', or str.length == 0
toBooleanStrict()	            //False unless str = '1' or 'true'
entityDecode()                  //Decode HTML entities
entityEncode()
xss(is_image)                   //Remove common xss attack vectors

Extending the library

When adding to the Validator prototype, use this.str to access the string and this.error(this.msg || default_msg) when the string is invalid

var Validator = require('validator').Validator;
Validator.prototype.contains = function(str) {
    if (!~this.str.indexOf(str)) {
        this.error(this.msg || this.str + ' does not contain ' + str);
    }
    return this; //Allow method chaining
}

When adding to the Filter (sanitize) prototype, use this.str to access the string and this.modify(new_str) to update it

var Filter = require('filter').Filter;
Filter.prototype.removeNumbers = function() {
    this.modify(this.str.replace(/[0-9]+/g, ''));
    return this.str;
}

Error handling

By default, the validation methods throw an exception when a check fails

try {
    check('abc').notNull().isInt()
} catch (e) {
    console.log(e); //Invalid integer
}

To set a custom error message, set the second param of check()

try {
    check('abc', 'Please enter a valid integer').notNull().isInt()
} catch (e) {
    console.log(e); //Please enter a valid integer
}

To attach a custom error handler, modify the error method of the Validator class

var Validator = require('validator').Validator;
var v = new Validator();
v.error = function(msg) {
    console.log('Fail');
}
v.check('abc').isInt(); //'Fail'