codeigniter + require letters and numbers in password

Question

I'd like to use form validation to require a password that has BOTH alpha and numeric characters. Here's what I've come up with so far:

$this->form_validation->set_rules('password', 'Password', 'required|matches[passconf]|min_length[8]|alpha_numeric');

The issue is that "alpha_numeric" requires that the password only contain letters or numbers, it doesn't require both. Going for the stronger password option here.

Answer 1

You could set up a callback in your controller:

public function password_check($str)
{
   if (preg_match('#[0-9]#', $str) && preg_match('#[a-zA-Z]#', $str)) {
     return TRUE;
   }
   return FALSE;
}

Then, update your rule to use it:

$this->form_validation->set_rules('password', 'Password', 'required|matches[passconf]|min_length[8]|alpha_numeric|callback_password_check');

Answer 2

An alternate solution that can be easily reused in other projects and localizes your validation rules is to extend the Form_validation class.

In application/libraries/ create a file called MY_Form_validation.php where 'MY' is your subclass prefix set in application/config/config.php.

The class would look something like:

class MY_Form_validation extends CI_Form_validation
{
    /**
     * Verify that a string contains a specified number of
     * uppercase, lowercase, and numbers.
     *
     * @access public
     *
     * @param String $str
     * @param String $format
     *
     * @return int
     */
    public function password_check($str, $format)
    {
        $ret = TRUE;

        list($uppercase, $lowercase, $number) = explode(',', $format);

        $str_uc = $this->count_uppercase($str);
        $str_lc = $this->count_lowercase($str);
        $str_num = $this->count_numbers($str);

        if ($str_uc < $uppercase) // lacking uppercase characters
        {
            $ret = FALSE;
            $this->set_message('password_check', 'Password must contain at least ' . $uppercase . ' uppercase characters.');
        }
        elseif ($str_lc < $lowercase) // lacking lowercase characters
        {
            $ret = FALSE;
            $this->set_message('password_check', 'Password must contain at least ' . $lowercase . ' lowercase characters.');
        }
        elseif ($str_num < $number) //  lacking numbers
        {
            $ret = FALSE;
            $this->set_message('password_check', 'Password must contain at least ' . $number . ' numbers characters.');
        }

        return $ret;
    }

    /**
     * count the number of times an expression appears in a string
     *
     * @access private
     *
     * @param String $str
     * @param String $exp
     *
     * @return int
     */
    private function count_occurrences($str, $exp)
    {
        $match = array();
        preg_match_all($exp, $str, $match);

        return count($match[0]);
    }

    /**
     * count the number of lowercase characters in a string
     *
     * @access private
     *
     * @param String $str
     *
     * @return int
     */
    private function count_lowercase($str)
    {
        return $this->count_occurrences($str, '/[a-z]/');
    }

    /**
     * count the number of uppercase characters in a string
     *
     * @access private
     *
     * @param String $str
     *
     * @return int
     */
    private function count_uppercase($str)
    {
        return $this->count_occurrences($str, '/[A-Z]/');
    }

    /**
     * count the number of numbers characters in a string
     *
     * @access private
     *
     * @param String $str
     *
     * @return int
     */
    private function count_numbers($str)
    {
        return $this->count_occurrences($str, '/[0-9]/');
    }
}

Then set the rule:

$this->form_validation->set_rules('password', 'Password', 'required|matches[passconf]|min_length[8]|alpha_numeric|password_check[1,1,1]');

The rule can be used in many different ways. 'password_check[1,1,1]' would require a password contain a lowercase, uppercase, and number character. 'password_check[5,0,1]' would require 5 uppercase characters and a number in the password.

The advantages of doing it this way are:

1. All your rules are contained within an easily portable class
2. Sub-validation functions such as 'count_occurences' can easily be used in other validation functions.
3. The class can be modified to use language files in application/language/