# filter_var

(PHP 5 >= 5.2.0, PECL filter:0.11.0)

filter_var — Filters a variable with a specified filter

### Description

mixed filter_var ( mixed `$variable` [, int `$filter` [, mixed `$options` ]] )

### Parameters

`variable`

  Value to filter, arrays are filtered recursively.

`filter`

  ID of a filter to use. Defaults to `FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING`.

`options`

  Associative array of options or bitwise disjunction of flags. If filter accepts options, flags can be provided in "flags" field of array. For the "callback" filter, callback type should be passed.

### Return Values

Returns the filtered data, or `FALSE` if the filter fails.

### Examples

Example#1 A filter_var() example

`<?php
var_dump(filter_var('bob@example.com', FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL));
var_dump(filter_var('example.com', FILTER_VALIDATE_URL, FILTER_FLAG_SCHEME_REQUIRED));
?>`

The above example will output:

    string(15) "bob@example.com"
    bool(false)

### See Also

- filter_var_array()
- filter_input()
- filter_input_array()
- information about the callback type