public function update(Request $request, $id) { $messages = [ ..., 'orcid.unique' => 'This ORCID ID is already in use in our database', 'orcid.regex' => 'The ORCID ID is in the format https://orcid.org/xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx', ..., ]; //require more complex validation style to have unique ignore rule for ORCID Validator::make($request->all(), [ //request->all() returns array required by Validator::make ..., 'orcid' => [ Rule::unique('users')->ignore($id), 'regex:/^http[s]?:\/\/orcid.org\/(\d{4})-(\d{4})-(\d{4})-(\d{3}[0-9X])$/', //from: https://github.com/pkp/pkp-lib/blob/master/classes/validation/ValidatorORCID.inc.php new Orcid ], ..., ],$messages)->validate();