philiprehberger/php-password-strength

Password strength validation with entropy calculation and common password detection

v1.2.0 2026-03-28 01:58 UTC

Requires

• php: ^8.2

Requires (Dev)

• laravel/pint: ^1.0
• phpstan/phpstan: ^1.12|^2.0
• phpunit/phpunit: ^11.0

MIT

• Philip Rehberger

• security
• validation
• password
• strength
• entropy

README

Password strength validation with entropy calculation and common password detection.

Requirements

• PHP 8.2+

Installation

composer require philiprehberger/php-password-strength

Usage

Checking password strength

use PhilipRehberger\PasswordStrength\PasswordStrength;

$result = PasswordStrength::check('MyP@ssw0rd!2026');

echo $result->score;       // 0-4
echo $result->label();     // "very weak", "weak", "fair", "strong", or "very strong"
echo $result->entropy;     // Shannon entropy in bits
echo $result->isCommon;    // true if found in common passwords list
echo $result->length;      // Password length

// Improvement suggestions
foreach ($result->suggestions as $suggestion) {
    echo $suggestion;
}

// Array representation
$array = $result->toArray();

Quick validation

use PhilipRehberger\PasswordStrength\PasswordStrength;

// Returns true if score >= 3 (strong)
if (PasswordStrength::isStrong('MyP@ssw0rd!2026')) {
    echo 'Password is strong enough.';
}

// Custom minimum score
if (PasswordStrength::isStrong('MyP@ssw0rd!2026', minScore: 4)) {
    echo 'Password is very strong.';
}

Detailed analysis

use PhilipRehberger\PasswordStrength\PasswordStrength;

$report = PasswordStrength::analyze('MyP@ssw0rd!2026');

echo $report->score;             // 0-4
echo $report->level;             // "very weak", "weak", "fair", "strong", or "very strong"
echo $report->length;            // Password length
echo $report->hasLowercase;      // true
echo $report->hasUppercase;      // true
echo $report->hasDigits;         // true
echo $report->hasSymbols;        // true
echo $report->hasRepeatedChars;  // false
echo $report->hasSequentialChars; // false
echo $report->hasKeyboardPattern; // false

Custom dictionary

use PhilipRehberger\PasswordStrength\PasswordStrength;

PasswordStrength::addDictionary(['company', 'acme', 'internal']);

$result = PasswordStrength::check('acmepassword');
// Score reduced, suggestion: "Avoid dictionary words."

PasswordStrength::clearDictionaries();

Personal context checking

use PhilipRehberger\PasswordStrength\PasswordStrength;

$report = PasswordStrength::withContext(['john', '[e-mail]'])
    ->analyze('john2024!');

echo $report->hasPersonalContext; // true
// Suggestion: "Avoid using personal information in your password"

Policy-based validation

use PhilipRehberger\PasswordStrength\PasswordPolicy;
use PhilipRehberger\PasswordStrength\PasswordStrength;

$policy = (new PasswordPolicy)
    ->minLength(10)
    ->requireUppercase()
    ->requireDigits()
    ->requireSymbols()
    ->minScore(3);

// Using the policy directly
$policy->check('MyP@ssw0rd!2026'); // true

// Using the main class
PasswordStrength::meetsPolicy('MyP@ssw0rd!2026', $policy); // true
PasswordStrength::meetsPolicy('weak', $policy);             // false

API

PasswordStrength

Method	Description
PasswordStrength::check(string $password): StrengthResult	Analyse a password and return a result
PasswordStrength::isStrong(string $password, int $minScore = 3): bool	Returns true if the score meets the minimum
PasswordStrength::analyze(string $password): StrengthReport	Return a detailed strength report with analysis flags
PasswordStrength::meetsPolicy(string $password, PasswordPolicy $policy): bool	Check if a password satisfies a policy
PasswordStrength::addDictionary(array $words): void	Add custom dictionary words to check against
PasswordStrength::clearDictionaries(): void	Clear all custom dictionaries
PasswordStrength::withContext(array $context): PendingAnalysis	Create a pending analysis with personal context

StrengthResult

Property / Method	Type	Description
score	int	Strength score from 0 to 4
entropy	float	Shannon entropy in bits
isCommon	bool	Whether the password is in the common list
length	int	Password length in characters
suggestions	array	List of improvement suggestions
label(): string	—	Human label: very weak, weak, fair, strong, very strong
toArray(): array	—	Serialize to array

StrengthReport

Property	Type	Description
score	int	Strength score from 0 to 4
level	string	Human-readable strength level
hasLowercase	bool	Whether the password contains lowercase letters
hasUppercase	bool	Whether the password contains uppercase letters
hasDigits	bool	Whether the password contains digits
hasSymbols	bool	Whether the password contains special characters
hasRepeatedChars	bool	Whether the password has 3+ repeated characters in a row
hasSequentialChars	bool	Whether the password has 3+ sequential characters
hasKeyboardPattern	bool	Whether the password contains keyboard patterns
length	int	Password length in characters
hasPersonalContext	bool	Whether the password contains personal context information
suggestions	array	List of improvement suggestions

PendingAnalysis

Method	Description
analyze(string $password): StrengthReport	Analyze a password with personal context applied

PasswordPolicy

Method	Description
minLength(int $length): self	Set minimum password length
requireUppercase(): self	Require at least one uppercase letter
requireDigits(): self	Require at least one digit
requireSymbols(): self	Require at least one special character
minScore(int $score): self	Set minimum strength score (0-4)
check(string $password): bool	Check if a password meets the policy

Score Meanings

Score	Label	Description
0	Very Weak	Trivial or common password
1	Weak	Low entropy or very short
2	Fair	Moderate entropy, room to improve
3	Strong	Good entropy and character variety
4	Very Strong	Excellent entropy and length

Development

composer install
vendor/bin/phpunit
vendor/bin/pint --test

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License

MIT