Source Priority

Source Priority

Sometimes a value could arrive in more than one place — a query string or a form field or a JSON body. The priority helpers read several sources in a defined order and hand you the first match.

The rule

A priority helper walks its sources in the order its name reads, left to right, and returns the value of the first source that contains the key. Once a source owns the key the lookup stops — remaining sources are never consulted, even if validation later rejects that value.

use InitPHP\Input\Inputs;

// "year" is in both the query string and the form body.
$input = new Inputs(
    get:  ['year' => '1999'],
    post: ['year' => '2003'],
);

$input->getPost('year'); // '1999' — get is checked first and has it
$input->postGet('year'); // '2003' — post is checked first and has it

When the earlier sources do not have the key, the helper falls through to the next one, and finally to the default:

$input = new Inputs(post: ['year' => '2003']); // no "year" in the query

$input->getPost('year', 2015); // '2003' — fell through to post
$input->getPost('age', 2015);  // 2015   — no source has it, so the default

The twelve helpers

Method	Order
getPost	get → post
getRaw	get → raw
getPostRaw	get → post → raw
getRawPost	get → raw → post
postGet	post → get
postRaw	post → raw
postGetRaw	post → get → raw
postRawGet	post → raw → get
rawGet	raw → get
rawPost	raw → post
rawGetPost	raw → get → post
rawPostGet	raw → post → get

Read the method name literally: postRawGet is post, then raw, then get. Every helper shares the single-source signature:

public function getPostRaw(string $key, mixed $default = null, ?array $validation = null): mixed;

Worked example

$input = new Inputs(
    get:  ['token' => 'from-query'],
    post: ['token' => 'from-form'],
    raw:  ['token' => 'from-body'],
);

$input->getPostRaw('token'); // 'from-query'
$input->postRawGet('token'); // 'from-form'
$input->rawGetPost('token'); // 'from-body'

Remove a source and the order keeps working:

$input = new Inputs(raw: ['token' => 'from-body']); // only the body has it

$input->getPostRaw('token', 'none'); // 'from-body' — skipped get and post
$input->postGet('token', 'none');    // 'none'      — neither post nor get has it

Presence decides priority — not validity

This is the one subtlety worth internalising. Priority is decided by presence, not by whether the value is valid. If the first source has the key but the value fails validation, you get the default — the helper does not try the next source.

$input = new Inputs(
    get:  ['year' => '3000'], // present but out of range
    post: ['year' => '1999'], // valid, but never reached
);

$input->getPost('year', 2015, ['range(1970...2070)']); // 2015

If you actually want the valid POST value here, either read the sources separately and decide yourself, or order the helper so the source you trust comes first. See Validation for the full discussion.

Common mistakes

• Expecting "first valid value" semantics. It is "first present value". A present-but-invalid value returns the default, full stop.
• Confusing the order. The name is the order: rawPostGet ≠ rawGetPost.

Next

• Validation
• API Reference