Is there a file in codeIgniter in which I could just edit so that I can customize the form validation messages?
3 Ways to format/ customize error display
1. Changing delimiters Globally: To globally change the error delimiters, in your controller method, just after loading the Form Validation class. Load after the form_validation library load. you can load in the constructor as well.
$this->form_validation->set_error_delimiters('', '');
2.Changing delimiters Individually: Each of the two error generating functions shown in this tutorial can be supplied their own delimiters as follows
', '3. Set delimiters in a config file: You can add your error delimiters in application/config/form_validation.php as follow. Set this 2 config variable in the file. $config['error_prefix'] ='$config['error_suffix'] = '
Ref Link: https://www.codeigniter.com/userguide3/libraries/form_validation.html#changing-the-error-delimiters