PHP Luminova: PHP Common Helpers

The common Helpers class offers a collection of static utility methods that simplify and standardize data handling across your application. It enhances development efficiency by providing ready-to-use solutions for common tasks.

Key features include:

• Input Formatting: Normalize various input types for consistency and reliability.
• Email & Phone Validation: Ensure emails and phone numbers meet standard formats and regional rules.
• Random String Generation: Generate secure random strings for tokens, identifiers, and more.
• EAN/UPC Generation: Create valid product codes for inventory and retail use.
• UUID Generation: Generate universally unique identifiers for reliably identifying records.
• Email & String Masking: Obscure sensitive data to enhance privacy and security.

Class Definition

• Class namespace: Luminova\Utility\Helpers

Methods

The methods can be accessed statically.

use Luminova\Utility\Helpers;

echo Helpers::random(50, 'string');

normalize

Format text before display by matching links, email, phone, hashtags and mentions with a link representation and replace multiple line breaks.

public static normalize(string $text, string $target = '_self', string $blocked = null, bool $noHtml = true): string

Parameters:

Return Value:

string - Return the formatted text.

random

Generate a random string or value.

public static random(int $length = 10, string $type = 'int', bool $uppercase = false): string

Parameters:

Return Value:

string - Return the generated randomized value.

Supported Types:

• character - Includes special characters like %#*^,?+$;"{}][|\/:=)(@!.-.
• alphabet - Contains only alphabetical characters (both uppercase and lowercase).
• password - Combines letters, numbers, and an expanded set of special characters (%#^_-@!$&*+=|~?<>[]{}()).
• bytes - Returns a raw binary string of the specified length.
• hex - Returns a hexadecimal representation of random bytes.
• int|integer - Contains only numeric characters (0-9).

Examples:

Generates a secure password of 16 characters.

Helpers::random(16, 'password');

Generates an 8-character string in uppercase letters.

Helpers::random(8, 'alphabet', true);

Generates a 32-character hexadecimal string.

Helpers::random(32, 'hex');

ean

Generate product EAN13 id.

public static ean(int $country = 615, int $length = 13): string

Parameters:

Return Value:

string - Return the generated product ean code.

upc

Generate a product UPC ID.

public static upc(int $prefix, int $length = 12): string

Parameters:

Return Value:

string - Return the generated UPC ID.

uuid

Generates a UUID string of the specified version.

public static uuid(int $version = 4, ?string $namespace = null, ?string $name = null): string

Parameters:

Return Value:

string - Return the generated UUID string.

Throws:

• \Luminova\Exceptions\InvalidArgumentException - If the namespace or name is not provided for versions 3 or 5.

isUuid

Validates a UUID string against a specific version.

public static isUuid(string $uuid, int $version = 4): bool

Parameters:

Return Value:

bool - Return true if the UUID is valid, false otherwise.

isEmail

Checks if string is a valid email address, with optional support for internationalized domains.

public static isEmail(string $email, bool $allow_idn = false): bool

Parameters:

Return Value:

bool - Returns true if valid email address, false otherwise.

isPhone

Validates if the input is a valid phone number.

public static isPhone(string|int $phone, int $min = 10, int $max = 15): bool

Parameters:

Return Value:

bool - Returns true if valid phone number, false otherwise.

isUrl

Checks if the string is a valid URL, with optional support for internationalized domains.

public static isUrl(string $url, bool $allowIdn = false, bool $http_only = false): bool

Parameters:

Return Value:

bool - Returns true if valid URL, false otherwise.

isBase64Encoded

Determines whether the given string is Base64-encoded (standard, URL-safe, or MIME style).

Supports both standard URL-safe, and MIME-safe Base64 strings (with newlines).

public static isBase64Encoded(string $data, bool $strict = true): bool

Parameters:

Return Value:

bool - Returns true if the string appears to be valid Base64; false otherwise.

isBinary

Determines if the content string is likely a binary based on the presence of non-printable characters.

public static isBinary(string $data): bool

Parameters:

Return Value:

bool - Return true if it's a binary, false otherwise.

formatPhone

Formats a phone number as (xxx) xxx-xxxx or xxx-xxxx depending on the length.

public static formatPhone(string $phone): string

Parameters:

Return Value:

string - Return the formatted phone number.

strength

Determine if password strength matches the basic strength recommendation.

public static strength(string $password, int $complexity = 4, int $min = 6, int $max = 50): bool

Parameters:

Return Value:

bool - Return true if password passed, otherwise false.

sanitize

Sanitize or validate user input based on the specified type.

Strictly sanitizes user input to protect against invalid characters and ensures it conforms to the expected type. It can either validate only or replace disallowed characters with a given replacement.

Additionally this method can easily be used from it global helper functions Luminova\Funcs\sanitize(...) and Luminova\Funcs\strict(...).

public static sanitize(string $value, string $type = 'name', ?string $replacement = ''): ?string

Parameters:

Return Value:

string|null - Returns the sanitized string, or null if input could not be sanitized and $replacement is provided.

Throws:

• \Luminova\Exceptions\InvalidArgumentException - If input contains invalid characters, HTML tags (for non-default), or type is not supported.

If:

• $replacement = null and the value does not match the type.
• The $type is not supported.

Supported Types:

Note:

Types marked as “Replacement not allowed” only support validation; $replacement is ignored.

Examples:

Int type (strip HTML)

use Luminova\Utility\Helpers;

$input = '1235hJndhb@<script>alert("hello");</script>';
Helpers::sanitize($input, 'int'); // Returns 1235

Sanitize numeric input

use Luminova\Utility\Helpers;

$value = Helpers::sanitize('1234', 'int'); // 1234
$value = Helpers::sanitize('12.34', 'numeric'); // 12.34

Validate only, throws exception on invalid input

use Luminova\Utility\Helpers;

Helpers::sanitize('abc123', 'int', null); // Throws InvalidArgumentException

Replace invalid characters

use Luminova\Utility\Helpers;

$value = Helpers::sanitize('abc$123', 'key', '_'); // abc_123

Default type (strip HTML)

use Luminova\Utility\Helpers;

$value = Helpers::sanitize('<b>Hello</b> World'); // Hello World

Unsupported type

use Luminova\Utility\Helpers;

Helpers::sanitize('value', 'unknown'); // Throws InvalidArgumentException

Note:

• Numeric shortcuts (int, numeric) efficiently bypass regex when input is already valid.
• HTML tags are removed automatically for non-default types if $replacement is not null.
• Use $replacement = null for strict validation only, otherwise replacement mode is applied.
• HTML tags (including their content) are completely removed for the any type.

This ensures secure handling of input to prevent invalid characters or unsafe content.

mainDomain

Remove subdomains from a URL and return the main domain name only.

public static mainDomain(string $url): string

Parameters:

Return Value:

string - Return the main domain extracted from the URL.

subdomain

Remove main domain from a URL and return only the first subdomain name.

public static subdomain(string $url): string

Parameters:

Return Value:

string - Return the extracted domain or an empty string if no domain is found.

Note: www is considered as none subdomain.And only the first level of subdomain will be returned if the url contains multiple levels of subdomain.

truncate

Truncate a string in specified length and adds an ellipsis at the end if the text is longer than the specified length.

public static truncate(string $text, int $length = 10, string $encoding = 'UTF-8'): string

Parameters:

Return Value:

string - Return the truncated string.

base64UrlEncode

Convert a string to base64 encode in other to pass it as a URL parameter.

public static base64UrlEncode(string $input): string

Parameters:

Return Value:

string - Return base64 encoded string url.

base64UrlDecode

Decode a URL Base64 decoded string back to it's original content.

public static base64UrlDecode(string $input): string

Parameters:

Return Value:

string - Return base64 decoded string.

maskEmail

Mask an email address to hide part of it (e.g pe***[email protected]).

public static maskEmail(string $email, string $masker = '*'): string

Parameters:

Return Value:

string - Return masked email address.

mask

Mask a string by position to hide part of it (e.g: mfk****kld).

public static mask(string $string, string $masker = '*', string $position = 'center'): string

Parameters:

Return Value:

string - Return masked string.

hexToBinary

Converts a hexadecimal string into its binary representation.

public static hexToBinary(string $hexStr, ?string $destination = null): string|bool

Parameters:

Return Value:

string|bool - Return the binary string if no destination is provided. If a file is written, returns true on success, false on failure.

Throws:

• \Luminova\Exceptions\RuntimeException - If an invalid hex is encountered.