Check if validation failed in laravel
Stefan Izdrail
Founder & Senior Architect · 2026-06-29
Title: Checking for Validation Failures in Laravel with $this->validate()
Body: In Laravel 5.4 and later versions, you can use both the $this->validate() method and the Validator class to validate requests. For many developers, using the $this->validate() method provides a cleaner syntax and easier integration into a controller's flow. However, determining when validation fails within this approach might seem challenging at first glance. In reality, it is quite simple if you follow the right steps.
Firstly, let's review the code snippet provided:
```php
$this->validate($request, [
'name' => 'required|min:2|max:255'
]);
```
In this example, a validation rule is applied to the 'name' field. The request object is passed as an argument and the validation rules are specified within an array using Laravel's piping syntax. If all the rules pass for each field in the request, no further action is needed, but if any of these rules fail, it will return a Validator instance with failed error messages.
To check whether the validation fails, you can use the $validator object returned by the Validate() method as follows:
```php
// Code using $this->validate()
$test = $this->validate($request, [
'name' => 'required|min:2|max:255'
]);
if( !$test ) //Not okay
{
echo "Validation failed";
}
else {
echo "Validation successful";
};
```
In this case, the $test variable will hold true if all validation rules passed and false otherwise. To make it more concise, you can also use the fails() method on the Validator object:
```php
// Using $validator and fails() method
$validator = Validator::make($request->all(), [
'name' => 'required|min:2|max:255'
]);
if( $validator->fails() ) //Not okay
{
echo "Validation failed";
}
else {
echo "Validation successful";
};
```
In this second approach, the Validator class is used directly to create a new instance and pass request data along with validation rules. The fails() method will tell you if any of the specified rules have failed.
Now that you've seen both options, it's essential to know when to use each one. If you prefer the more concise approach using $this->validate(), you can still check for validation errors by inverting the conditional statement as follows:
```php
// Using $this->validate() with inverted condition
$test = $this->validate($request, [
'name' => 'required|min:2|max:255'
]);
if( $test ) //Ok
{
echo "Validation successful";
}
else {
echo "Validation failed";
};
```
By inverting the condition, you check if the validation succeeded rather than checking for failure, which is more logical when using the $this->validate() method. This way, you're maintaining a consistent workflow and still know exactly when a validation fails or succeeds within your Laravel application.
In conclusion, working with the $this->validate() method and $validator object in Laravel 5.4 allows you to maintain a clean syntax and integrate easily into controller logic. With proper conditional statements and understanding of each option, you can effectively check for validation failure when it occurs in your Laravel application.