preg_match regex to make http:// and https:// optional

Question

I want to validate URL in PHP but the function should accept the URL even if http:// or https:// not present in the input.

Following URL's should be acceptable:

http://example.com
http://www.example.com
https://example.com
https://www.example.com
www.example.com
example.com

It should not accept ftp protocol, IP address, Port, URL path, query, or fragment.

If you have a problem you can post what you've tried with a clear explanation of what isn't working and provide a [Minimal, Complete, and Verifiable example](https://stackoverflow.com/help/mcve). I suggest reading [How to Ask](http://stackoverflow.com/help/how-to-ask) a good question. Also, be sure to take the [tour](https://stackoverflow.com/tour) — Yash Karanke, May 21 '17 at 06:20
Not sure what you're trying to do, but it's almost certain to lead to disaster. What about all the new TLDs? For example, `realtor`. That's one word, no dots, and is perfectly valid. How do you plan to handle situations like that? — Brad, May 21 '17 at 06:22

Ibrahim · Answer 1 · 2017-05-21T07:24:26.280

1

Try this regex:

^(https?:\/\/)?(www\.)?\w+\.[a-z]{2,6}(\/)?$

You should add ? after http(s) and www in order to make them optional.

edited May 21 '17 at 07:24

answered May 21 '17 at 06:32

Ibrahim

Thanks it worked well but one thing I missed in acceptable example list is trailing slash. e.g. http://example.com/ So I edited your regex by adding (\/)? at last: ^(https?:\/\/)?(www\.)?\w+\.[a-z]{2,6}(\/)?$ – Mahadev Majaladar May 21 '17 at 06:47
1

@MahadevMajaladar That's right! Adding `(\/)?` at the end is the correct way to account for the trailing slash. I edited my answer to reflect that. – Ibrahim May 21 '17 at 07:23
What change should I make If I want to accept subdomains also? – Mahadev Majaladar May 21 '17 at 19:09
replace `www` with `\w+` – Ibrahim May 22 '17 at 10:35
Thanks. @Ibrahim – Mahadev Majaladar May 22 '17 at 18:47

1 Answers1