Form validation in laravel

UpdateUserRequest.php

<?php

namespace App\Http\Requests\User;

use Illuminate\Validation\Rule;
use Illuminate\Foundation\Http\FormRequest;

class UpdateUserRequest extends FormRequest
{
    /**
     * Determine if the user is authorized to make this request.
     *
     * @return bool
     */
    public function authorize()
    {
        return true;
    }

    /**
     * Get the validation rules that apply to the request.
     *
     * @return array<string, mixed>
     */
    public function rules()
    {
        // method 1 - Condition using route name
        if (request()->routeIs('user.settings.store')) {
            $passwordRule = 'required';
        } elseif (request()->routeIs('user.settings.update')) {
            $passwordRule = 'sometimes';
        }

        // $passwordRule = request()->routeIs('user.settings.store') ? 'required' : 'sometimes';

        // method 2 - Condition using method name
        if (request()->isMethod('POST')) {
            $passwordRule = 'required';
        } elseif (request()->isMethod('PUT')) {
            $passwordRule = 'sometimes';
        }


        return [
            'name' => 'required|string|max:255',
            'email' => 'required|string|email|max:255|unique:users,email,' . request()->user()->id,
            // method 1 & 2
            'password' => [$passwordRule, Rules\Password::defaults()],

            // method 3 - Rule When
            'password' => [
                Rule::when(request()->isMethod('POST'), 'required'),
                Rule::when(request()->isMethod('PUT'), 'sometimes'),
                'confirmed',
                Rules\Password::defaults()
            ],
        ];
    }

    /**
     * If password is not required, remove it from the request and cannot sent as null
     *
     */

    public function prepareForValidation()
    {
        if ($this->password == null) {
            $this->request->remove('password');
        }
    }
}