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Password Helper (password-helper)

A PHP library that makes using best practices with passwords easy by default.

Requirements

• PHP 8.0+

Note: There is a PHP 5 compatible version available (v1.0.0). However, it is no longer maintained and does not contain the improved logic found in v2 and newer.

Installation

Simply add a dependency on stymiee/password-helper to your project's composer.json file if you use Composer to manage the dependencies of your project.

Here is a minimal example of a composer.json file that just defines a dependency on Password Helper:

{
    "require": {
        "stymiee/password-helper": "^3"
    }
}

Basic Usage

Configuration

To configure your Password Helper to suit your business requirements, you can set your password policy when creating your Password Helper object. There are six factors you can configure be required (or not) and, if required, the minimum criteria for that password characteristic. They are:

1. minimumLength - Sets the minimum length a password must be. (Default: 10)
2. minimumSpecialChars - Sets the minimum number of special characters required to be in the password (Default: 1)
3. minimumUppercase - Sets the minimum number of uppercase letters required to be in the password (Default: 1)
4. minimumLowercase - Sets the minimum number of lowercase letters required to be in the password (Default: 1)
5. minimumLetters - Sets the minimum number of total alphabetic characters required to be in the password (Default: 1)
6. minimumDigits - Sets the minimum number of numbers required to be in the password (Default: 1)

If you do not pass any custom policy rules when creating your Password Helper it will default to the values listed above.

$passwordHelper = new Password();

is equivalent to:

$passwordHelper = new Password([
    'minimumLetters' => 1,
    'minimumDigits' => 1,
    'minimumLowercase' => 1,
    'minimumUppercase' => 1,
    'minimumSpecialChars' => 1,
    'minimumLength' => 10 
]);

To modify a policy you can pass it by name, with its custom value, to the constructor. The code below sets all the rules to require two of each type and sets a minimum password length of twelve characters.

$passwordHelper = new Password([
    'minimumLetters' => 2,
    'minimumDigits' => 2,
    'minimumLowercase' => 2,
    'minimumUppercase' => 2,
    'minimumSpecialChars' => 2,
    'minimumLength' => 12 
]);

You only need to pass a custom value when you change its value from the default value. The code below only changes the values for minimumDigits and minimumLength.

$passwordHelper = new Password([
    'minimumDigits' => 2,
    'minimumLength' => 12 
]);

To remove a requirement give it a value of zero.

$passwordHelper = new Password([
    'minimumSpecialChars' => 0  // Special characters are not required
]);

Generate a new password

$password = (\PasswordHelper\new Password())->generate(); // 8TpKC>&nQA

Validate a password is acceptable under your password policy

$password = \PasswordHelper\new Password();
echo var_dump($password->validateComplexity('!aa34sDDdfg7dfgdsfg2gg'));
echo var_dump($password->validateComplexity('1234'));

Outputs

true
false    

Check the strength of a password

$password = \PasswordHelper\new Password();
echo $password->checkStrength('a');
echo $password->checkStrength('qr193');
echo $password->checkStrength('8TpKC>&nQA');

Outputs

Very Weak
Good
Very Strong

Hash a password

$hashedPassword = (\PasswordHelper\new Password())->hash('secret1234');

Validate a password

$password = \PasswordHelper\new Password();
if ($password->verify('secret1234', $row['password_hash'])) {
    // Let them in
} else {
    // Authentication failure
}   

Update the hash of a password

$password = \PasswordHelper\new Password();
if ($password->checkForRehash($row['password_hash'])) {
    $newHash = $password->hash('secret1234');
    // ... then save the new hash ...
}

Support

If you require assistance using this library, start by viewing the HELP.md file included in this package. It includes common problems and their solutions. There is also sample usage in the /examples/ directory of this project.

If you need additional assistance, I can be found at Stack Overflow. Be sure when you ask a question pertaining to the usage of this library be sure to tag your question with the PHP and password tags. Make sure you follow their guide for asking a good question as poorly asked questions will be closed, and I will not be able to assist you.

A good question will include all the following:

• A description of the problem (what are you trying to do? what results are you expecting? what results are you actually getting?)
• The code you are using (only post the relevant code)
• Any error message(s) you are getting

Do not use Stack Overflow to report bugs. Bugs may be reported here.