required() and optional()

Rules are required by default. Use optional() to accept null or an empty string, or use required(false) for the same behavior.

use Fynix\Rule;

$required = Rule::string('name')->required();
$optional = Rule::string('nickname')->optional();
$explicit = Rule::string('phone')->required(false);

requiredState() reads the configured state. These methods return immutable clones.

Requiredness runs before type-specific validation. A null value or empty string returns a required error when the rule is required. Optional values may skip the rest of the pipeline when they are empty.

$name = Rule::string('name')->required();
$nickname = Rule::string('nickname')->optional();

$name->validate(null); // required error
$nickname->validate(null); // null

Use requiredIf() and requiredUnless() when presence depends on another field in the same object.