Form validation is a necessary process that must be done before submitting the data to the database. Any time a user submits a URL, it becomes crucial to investigate whether the given URL is valid or not. We can use PHP to validate the URLs that are submitted through an HTML form.

Using filter_var( ) Function

To validate a URL, the first approach is to use the filter_var( ) method with the FILTER_VALIDATE_URL filter. This method is widely used in PHP to filter a variable with a specific filter. It ensures that URLs are correctly formatted and secure, thus reducing the chances of security vulnerabilities.

Example: Implementation to validate URL in PHP Forms using filter_var( ).

https://www.example.in is a VALID URL

Using preg_match( ) Function

The preg_match( ) method is commonly used to search the given string using a pattern. This pattern is created using regular expression.

Example: Implementation to validate URL in PHP Forms using preg_match( )

https://www.example.in is a VALID URL