Problem with regex order
June 18, 2008 4:03 PM Subscribe
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}$/')
It works great in that it allows letters, spaces, ampersand, apostrophe, period and numbers.
For example: Jim's Number 1 Tackle & Rod Shop. validates.
The problem arises when there is a number first, for example 2you delivery services will not validate.
I know it has something to do with the order in which the expression is written, but I can't figure it out. Anyone know what I'm doing wrong?
Thanks, as always.
I'm validating an input in cakephp as follow:
'rule' => array('custom', '/^[a-zA-Z\'&.\s]{1,40}$/')
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.
Response by poster: Uh, figured out... I'm sooo dumb. Can an admin delete this please? Thanks :)
posted by ReiToei at 4:13 PM on June 18, 2008
posted by ReiToei at 4:13 PM on June 18, 2008
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.
posted by Mike1024 at 4:20 PM on June 18, 2008
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.
posted by Mike1024 at 4:20 PM on June 18, 2008
Unless you don't want underscores, this shorter regex could do the trick:
posted by Deathalicious at 4:48 PM on June 18, 2008
^[\w\'&\. ]{1,40} ^I'd use a simple space rather than \s. You probably don't want to allow tabs or returns.posted by Deathalicious at 4:48 PM on June 18, 2008
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.
posted by trouserbat at 6:15 PM on June 18, 2008
posted by trouserbat at 6:15 PM on June 18, 2008
Response by poster: Thanks for all the help guys! Will definitely check out that tool for Emacs.
posted by ReiToei at 3:37 AM on June 19, 2008
posted by ReiToei at 3:37 AM on June 19, 2008
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by ReiToei at 4:08 PM on June 18, 2008