Comments on: Problem with regex order

Question: Problem with regex order

ReiToei — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:03:11 -0800

RegExFilter: Can any regular expression ninjas help me with my this teensy problem?

I'm validating an input in cakephp as follow:

'rule' => array('custom', '/^[a-zA-Z\'&.\s]{1,40}$/')

It works great in that it allows letters, spaces, ampersand, apostrophe, period and numbers.

For example: Jim's Number 1 Tackle & Rod Shop. validates.

The problem arises when there is a number first, for example 2you delivery services will not validate.

I know it has something to do with the order in which the expression is written, but I can't figure it out. Anyone know what I'm doing wrong?

Thanks, as always.

By: ReiToei

ReiToei — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:08:19 -0800

Sorry, Jim's Number 1 Tackle & Rod Shop doesn't validate. I WANT it to validate!

By: ReiToei

ReiToei — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:13:48 -0800

Uh, figured out... I'm sooo dumb. Can an admin delete this please? Thanks :)

By: Mike1024

Mike1024 — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:20:34 -0800

Missing a \d, eh? Easy to do...

You've validated that the rule excludes everything you want to exclude, right? because in some regexp formats . means 'any character' so your regexp would match everything.

By: Deathalicious

Deathalicious — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:48:39 -0800

Unless you don't want underscores, this shorter regex could do the trick:

^[\w\'&\. ]{1,40}
         ^

I'd use a simple space rather than \s. You probably don't want to allow tabs or returns.

By: trouserbat

trouserbat — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 18:15:53 -0800

Sounds like you already have your answer, but for the archives -- if you use Emacs, the M-x re-builder tool is great for this stuff.

By: ReiToei

ReiToei — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 03:37:47 -0800

Thanks for all the help guys! Will definitely check out that tool for Emacs.