Laravel validator `required` fails for empty string also

Question

I'm trying laravel required validator in my code, unfortunately it fails for even empty string. I do not want it fail for empty string.

$validator = \Validator::make(array("name"=>""), array("name"=>"required"));
if ($validator->fails()){
    var_dump($validator->messages());
} else {
    die("no errors :)");
}

It gives me the following output

object(Illuminate\Support\MessageBag)[602]
  protected 'messages' => 
    array (size=1)
      'name' => 
        array (size=1)
          0 => string 'The name field is required.' (length=27)
  protected 'format' => string ':message' (length=8)

It is supposed to pass, since i'm giving an empty string as the name field.

The above behavior happens in OSX environment (PHP Version 5.5.18), but it works fine in linux environment (PHP Version 5.5.9-1ubuntu4.5).

Answer 1

I use this:

'my_field' => 'present'