Pest Plugin Profanity Laravel Package

Getting Started

Install the plugin via Composer:

composer require --dev pest/pest-plugin-profanity

Then run pest --init (if not already done) to register the plugin in your test suite. The plugin adds two new expectations:

• assertNot profane() — assert a string does not contain profanity
• assert profane() — assert a string does contain profanity

First use case: protect user-generated content (e.g., comments, reviews) from offensive language by asserting in your feature tests:

it('rejects comments with profanity', function () {
    expect($comment->body)->assertNot profane();
});

Implementation Patterns

• Default behavior: checks for English profanity. To test multilingual apps, configure languages explicitly (see Gotchas).
• Inline expectations: use within expect() for clarity and better error messages:

  expect($email->subject)->assertNot profane();
  expect($chat->message)->toNotBeProfane(); // alias
  

• Custom tolerance lists: add context-aware false positives to the tolerated list in config/profanity.php (generated on first run). This avoids test flakiness around words like “ass” in “donkey” or “punt”.
• Language-specific checks: enable multiple languages to catch regional variants:

  // phpunit.xml or config/profanity.php
  'languages' => ['en', 'pt_BR', 'es'],
  

Gotchas and Tips

• False positives: the plugin flags words as profane even if embedded in otherwise safe text (e.g., “anal” vs “analysis”). Always extend the tolerated list with context-specific exceptions. Check the error output — v3.6.0+ reports the exact found words.
• Case sensitivity: the plugin is case-insensitive by default, but watch for obfuscation (e.g., “a$$”, “b!tch”). Current version does not handle obfuscation out-of-the-box; consider preprocessing with a normalization strategy if needed.
• Configuration: run php artisan vendor:publish --provider="Pest\Profanity\ProfanityServiceProvider" (Laravel) or manually copy config/profanity.php to your project to customize languages/tolerated words.
• Performance: the profanity check is O(n) over the word list; for large inputs or many tests, prefer targeted assertions on key fields (e.g., title, body) rather than entire payloads.
• Extensions: since it’s built on profanify, the underlying library is locale-aware — new languages are frequently added (Dutch, Danish, Arabic, Japanese, Russian, etc.), so keep composer.lock synced and check config/profanity.php for available language keys.
• Debugging tip: use dd($text) alongside expect($text)->toBeProfane() during test development to quickly validate whether expected profanity is detected as intended.