A simple class to test if a string has a profanity in it.

Checks string for profanity as it is against list of bad words. E.g. badword

Checks string for profanity with characters substituted for each letter. E.g. bâdΨ0rd

Checks string for profanity obscured with punctuation between. E.g. b|a|d|w|o|r|d

Check string for profanity that has characters doubled up. E.g. bbaaddwwoorrdd

Also works with combinations of the above. E.g. b|â|d|Ψ|0|rr|d

Install this package via composer.

php composer.phar require developer/profanity-filter

/* default constructor */
$check = new Check();
$hasProfanity = $check->hasProfanity($badWords);
$cleanWords = $check->obfuscateIfProfane($badWords);

/* customized word list from file */
$check = new Check('path.to/wordlist.php');

/* customized word list from array */
$badWords = array('bad', 'words'); // or load from db
$check = new Check($badWords);

Have to mention the following project as it gave me a good foundation for the regex and a list of swear words.

https://github.com/fastwebmedia/Profanity-Filter

Thanks to @jackcsk for his contribution, adding the ability to use a plain array instead of a file for the list of profanities. Available in version > v1.3.0.

ProfanityFilter is open-sourced software licensed under the MIT license