LessThan

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Validates that a value is less than another value, defined in the options. To force that a value is less than or equal to another value, see LessThanOrEqual. To force a value is greater than another value, see GreaterThan.

Applies to	property or method
Class	LessThan
Validator	LessThanValidator

Caution

When using PHP 7.x, if the value is a string (e.g. 1234asd), the validator will not trigger an error. In this case, you must also use the Type constraint with numeric, integer, etc. to reject strings.

Basic Usage

The following constraints ensure that:

the number of siblings of a Person is less than 5
age is less than 80

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        // src/Entity/Person.php
namespace App\Entity;

use Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraints as Assert;

class Person
{
    /**
     * @Assert\LessThan(5)
     */
    protected $siblings;

    /**
     * @Assert\LessThan(
     *     value = 80
     * )
     */
    protected $age;
}
    

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        // src/Entity/Person.php
namespace App\Entity;

use Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraints as Assert;

class Person
{
    #[Assert\LessThan(5)]
    protected $siblings;

    #[Assert\LessThan(
        value: 80,
    )]
    protected $age;
}
    

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        # config/validator/validation.yaml
App\Entity\Person:
    properties:
        siblings:
            - LessThan: 5
        age:
            - LessThan:
                value: 80
    

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        <!-- config/validator/validation.xml -->
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<constraint-mapping xmlns="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/constraint-mapping"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/constraint-mapping https://symfony.com/schema/dic/constraint-mapping/constraint-mapping-1.0.xsd">

    <class name="App\Entity\Person">
        <property name="siblings">
            <constraint name="LessThan">
                5
            </constraint>
        </property>
        <property name="age">
            <constraint name="LessThan">
                <option name="value">80</option>
            </constraint>
        </property>
    </class>
</constraint-mapping>
    

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        // src/Entity/Person.php
namespace App\Entity;

use Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraints as Assert;
use Symfony\Component\Validator\Mapping\ClassMetadata;

class Person
{
    public static function loadValidatorMetadata(ClassMetadata $metadata)
    {
        $metadata->addPropertyConstraint('siblings', new Assert\LessThan(5));

        $metadata->addPropertyConstraint('age', new Assert\LessThan([
            'value' => 80,
        ]));
    }
}
    

Comparing Dates

This constraint can be used to compare DateTime objects against any date string accepted by the DateTime constructor. For example, you could check that a date must be in the past like this:

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        // src/Entity/Person.php
namespace App\Entity;

use Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraints as Assert;

class Person
{
    /**
     * @Assert\LessThan("today")
     */
    protected $dateOfBirth;
}
    

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        // src/Entity/Person.php
namespace App\Entity;

use Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraints as Assert;

class Person
{
    #[Assert\LessThan('today')]
    protected $dateOfBirth;
}
    

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        # config/validator/validation.yaml
App\Entity\Person:
    properties:
        dateOfBirth:
            - LessThan: today
    

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        <!-- config/validator/validation.xml -->
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<constraint-mapping xmlns="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/constraint-mapping"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/constraint-mapping https://symfony.com/schema/dic/constraint-mapping/constraint-mapping-1.0.xsd">

    <class name="App\Entity\Person">
        <property name="dateOfBirth">
            <constraint name="LessThan">today</constraint>
        </property>
    </class>
</constraint-mapping>
    

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        // src/Entity/Person.php
namespace App\Entity;

use Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraints as Assert;
use Symfony\Component\Validator\Mapping\ClassMetadata;

class Person
{
    public static function loadValidatorMetadata(ClassMetadata $metadata)
    {
        $metadata->addPropertyConstraint('dateOfBirth', new Assert\LessThan('today'));
    }
}
    

Be aware that PHP will use the server's configured timezone to interpret these dates. If you want to fix the timezone, append it to the date string:

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        // src/Entity/Person.php
namespace App\Entity;

use Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraints as Assert;

class Person
{
    /**
     * @Assert\LessThan("today UTC")
     */
    protected $dateOfBirth;
}
    

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        // src/Entity/Person.php
namespace App\Entity;

use Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraints as Assert;

class Person
{
    #[Assert\LessThan('today UTC')]
    protected $dateOfBirth;
}
    

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        # config/validator/validation.yaml
App\Entity\Person:
    properties:
        dateOfBirth:
            - LessThan: today UTC
    

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        <!-- config/validator/validation.xml -->
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<constraint-mapping xmlns="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/constraint-mapping"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/constraint-mapping https://symfony.com/schema/dic/constraint-mapping/constraint-mapping-1.0.xsd">

    <class name="App\Entity\Person">
        <property name="dateOfBirth">
            <constraint name="LessThan">today UTC</constraint>
        </property>
    </class>
</constraint-mapping>
    

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        // src/Entity/Person.php
namespace App\Entity;

use Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraints as Assert;
use Symfony\Component\Validator\Mapping\ClassMetadata;

class Person
{
    public static function loadValidatorMetadata(ClassMetadata $metadata)
    {
        $metadata->addPropertyConstraint('age', new Assert\LessThan('today UTC'));
    }
}
    

The DateTime class also accepts relative dates or times. For example, you can check that a person must be at least 18 years old like this:

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        // src/Entity/Person.php
namespace App\Entity;

use Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraints as Assert;

class Person
{
    /**
     * @Assert\LessThan("-18 years")
     */
    protected $dateOfBirth;
}
    

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        // src/Entity/Person.php
namespace App\Entity;

use Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraints as Assert;

class Person
{
    #[Assert\LessThan('-18 years')]
    protected $dateOfBirth;
}
    

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        # config/validator/validation.yaml
App\Entity\Person:
    properties:
        dateOfBirth:
            - LessThan: -18 years
    

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        <!-- config/validator/validation.xml -->
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<constraint-mapping xmlns="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/constraint-mapping"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/constraint-mapping https://symfony.com/schema/dic/constraint-mapping/constraint-mapping-1.0.xsd">

    <class name="App\Entity\Person">
        <property name="dateOfBirth">
            <constraint name="LessThan">-18 years</constraint>
        </property>
    </class>
</constraint-mapping>
    

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        // src/Entity/Person.php
namespace App\Entity;

use Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraints as Assert;
use Symfony\Component\Validator\Mapping\ClassMetadata;

class Person
{
    public static function loadValidatorMetadata(ClassMetadata $metadata)
    {
        $metadata->addPropertyConstraint('dateOfBirth', new Assert\LessThan('-18 years'));
    }
}
    

Options

`groups`

type: array | string default: null

It defines the validation group or groups of this constraint. Read more about validation groups.

`message`

type: string default: This value should be less than {{ compared_value }}.

This is the message that will be shown if the value is not less than the comparison value.

You can use the following parameters in this message:

Parameter	Description
`{{ compared_value }}`	The upper limit
`{{ compared_value_type }}`	The expected value type
`{{ value }}`	The current (invalid) value

`payload`

type: mixed default: null

This option can be used to attach arbitrary domain-specific data to a constraint. The configured payload is not used by the Validator component, but its processing is completely up to you.

For example, you may want to use several error levels to present failed constraints differently in the front-end depending on the severity of the error.

`propertyPath`

type: string default: null

It defines the object property whose value is used to make the comparison.

For example, if you want to compare the $endDate property of some object with regard to the $startDate property of the same object, use propertyPath="startDate" in the comparison constraint of $endDate.

Tip

When using this option, its value is available in error messages as the {{ compared_value_path }} placeholder. Although it's not intended to include it in the error messages displayed to end users, it's useful when using APIs for doing any mapping logic on client-side.

`value`

type: mixed [default option]

This option is required. It defines the comparison value. It can be a string, number or object.

This work, including the code samples, is licensed under a Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0 license.

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