# Strange behavior with component Zend\\InputFilter and 'required' =\> false, validator NotEmpty and validator Regex
**URL:** https://discourse.laminas.dev/t/strange-behavior-with-component-zend-inputfilter-and-required-false-validator-notempty-and-validator-regex/581
**Category:** Components & MVC
**Tags:** zend-inputfilter
**Created:** [May 14, 2018, 2:58pm UTC](https://discourse.laminas.dev/t/strange-behavior-with-component-zend-inputfilter-and-required-false-validator-notempty-and-validator-regex/581 "2018-05-14T14:58:20Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@parideb](https://discourse.laminas.dev/u/parideb)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2018, 2:58pm UTC](https://discourse.laminas.dev/t/strange-behavior-with-component-zend-inputfilter-and-required-false-validator-notempty-and-validator-regex/581/1 "2018-05-14T14:58:21Z")
NotEmpty validator is not considered with the ‘required’ =\> false from the input filter validation.
I would allow only to send a MD5 string, null have to be invalid. But the MD5 have not to be required.
This is the code to reproduce the strange behavior.
```auto
return new ValidationMiddleware([
[
'name' => 'name',
'required' => false,
'filters' => [
[
'name' => 'StripTags'
],
[
'name' => 'StringTrim'
],
[
'name' => 'StripNewlines'
]
],
'validators' => [
[
'name' => 'NotEmpty',
],
[
'name' => 'Regex',
'options' => [
'pattern' => '/^[a-fA-F0-9]{32}$/'
]
]
]
]
```
When required attribute is set to false the validator NotEmpty it seems not to be considered. This means that I can send this request with this body
```auto
{
"name": null
}
```
The request is valid also if the Regex is not valid: null should not be accepted by ‘/^[a-fA-F0-9]{32}$/’
If I remove ‘required’ =\> false from the input filter validation or I set to true, the filter work fine.
The result is:
```auto
{
"errors": [
{
"name": "name",
"value": null,
"messages": [
"Value is required and can't be empty",
"Invalid type given. String, integer or float expected"
]
}
],
"title": "Bad Request",
"type": "https://httpstatus.es/400",
"status": 400,
"detail": "Validation error"
}
```
---
### Author:  [@froschdesign](https://discourse.laminas.dev/u/froschdesign)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2018, 5:48pm UTC](https://discourse.laminas.dev/t/strange-behavior-with-component-zend-inputfilter-and-required-false-validator-notempty-and-validator-regex/581/2 "2018-05-14T17:48:17Z")
Use the option `continue_if_empty`. Example:
```auto
$inputFilter = (new Zend\InputFilter\InputFilter())->getFactory()->createInputFilter(
[
[
'name' => 'foo',
'required' => false,
'continue_if_empty' => true,
'validators' => [
[
'name' => Zend\Validator\NotEmpty::class,
],
[
'name' => Zend\Validator\Regex::class,
'options' => [
'pattern' => '/^[a-fA-F0-9]{32}$/'
]
]
]
]
]
);
$inputFilter->setData([]);
var_dump($inputFilter->isValid()); // true
$inputFilter->setData(['foo' => null]);
var_dump($inputFilter->isValid()); // false
$inputFilter->setData(['foo' => 'bar']);
var_dump($inputFilter->isValid()); // false
$inputFilter->setData(['foobar' => md5('bar')]);
var_dump($inputFilter->isValid()); // true
```
See also: [https://github.com/zendframework/zend-inputfilter/blob/master/src/Input.php#L417-L419](https://github.com/zendframework/zend-inputfilter/blob/master/src/Input.php#L417-L419)
---
### Author:  [@parideb](https://discourse.laminas.dev/u/parideb)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2018, 4:12pm UTC](https://discourse.laminas.dev/t/strange-behavior-with-component-zend-inputfilter-and-required-false-validator-notempty-and-validator-regex/581/3 "2018-05-16T16:12:22Z")
Thanks a lot, it works!