What is the difference between required and ng-required?

Question

What is the difference between required and ng-required (form validation)?

Answer 1

AngularJS form elements look for the required attribute to perform validation functions. ng-required allows you to set the required attribute depending on a boolean test (for instance, only require field B - say, a student number - if the field A has a certain value - if you selected "student" as a choice)

As an example, <input required> and <input ng-required="true"> are essentially the same thing

If you are wondering why this is this way, (and not just make <input required="true"> or <input required="false">), it is due to the limitations of HTML - the required attribute has no associated value - its mere presence means (as per HTML standards) that the element is required - so angular needs a way to set/unset required value (required="false" would be invalid HTML)

Answer 2

I would like to make a addon for tiago's answer:

Suppose you're hiding element using ng-show and adding a required attribute on the same:

<div ng-show="false">
    <input required name="something" ng-model="name"/>
</div>

will throw an error something like :

An invalid form control with name='' is not focusable

This is because you just cannot impose required validation on hidden elements. Using ng-required makes it easier to conditionally apply required validation which is just awesome!!

Answer 3

The HTML attribute required="required" is a statement telling the browser that this field is required in order for the form to be valid. (required="required" is the XHTML form, just using required is equivalent)

The Angular attribute ng-required="yourCondition" means 'isRequired(yourCondition)' and sets the HTML attribute dynamically for you depending on your condition.

Also note that the HTML version is confusing, it is not possible to write something conditional like required="true" or required="false", only the presence of the attribute matters (present means true) ! This is where Angular helps you out with ng-required.