Replace all except alphanumeric+space

zevious

I have this:
$nw=ereg_replace('[^{a-z0-9]','',$w);}

This works to strip out the non-alphanumeric characters but also strips the whitespace. How can I keep the spaces?

TIA!

Anon

$nw=ereg_replace('[^a-z0-9 ]','',$w);

I added a space after the 9 on my expressions and it worked BUT it also caused an unseen problem. It allows your $nw to BEGIN with a space or END with a space and IF (like me) you are storing this in a mysql database that can cause havok if it is duplicate names with just space differences. You need to write the expression to allow ONLY alphanumeric at the start and end, with whitespace in the middle if that is a problem. If you need that code, lemme know and I will go dig it up. 🙂 (as always, Kirk or Brandon may know a better way. 🙂)

Zevious wrote:

I have this:
$nw=ereg_replace('[^{a-z0-9]','',$w);}

This works to strip out the non-alphanumeric characters but also strips the whitespace. How can I keep the spaces?

TIA!

zevious

actually $w will usually (but not always) contain multiple words. ie $w='testing this again' or $w='testing the kid's name'. I need $nw to be just the alphanumeric and spaces. I tried adding the space and it didn't seem to produce what I need.

Anon

This is the code I use on my site to allow alphanumerics, underscore and whitespace.

if (ereg("^[a-zA-Z0-9_ ]+$", $w)) {
valid;
}

zevious

hmmm.
I tried $nw=ereg('[^a-zA-Z0-9 ]+$','',$nw);
and $nw ends up being blank.

but $nw=ereg_replace('[^{A-Z0-9]','',$nw);}
returns everything minus the whitespace..

Is there a reference to the reg expression codes somewhere? I have a feeling I am thinking backwards on this..