preg_match; Is pattern address, name ok?

scrtadmr8

Hi,
Did not expect pattern expression design to be so exhausting but had to get away from ereg due to speed concern. When I study the 30 min tutorial, my hats off to the experts even though I did a course in spitbol. The complexity is amazing.

Validate name being alphabetic with [- ' '] (minus for join name eg Van-Dame, quote for O'Reilly.
$pattern = '/^{[A-Za-z.]+[-\'A-Za-z]+[A-Za-z]+{2,15}/';}
{starting alpha or period]one or more
[join or quote or alpha] one or more
[name ends with alpha]
(2,15) name length between 2 to 15 characters.

Online input form to stop most mischief. Would like to handle names with circumflex or vowels with accent in languages like German, French, etc. Suggestion please.

Validate address. Since street uses name, we accept the name pattern. Worldwide address can be "Red church at corner" or 6th-7th Ave. So I be nice and allow some mischief like period ending for St.
$patternaddr = '/^{[0-9A-Za-z]+[-} .\"0-9A-Za-z]+(4,22)/'
Address starts alphanumeric (one or more)
Join, period, or quote or alphanumeric (one or more)

If preg_match($pattern, $name)
{tx for your help}

First time coding in PHP and thought I had it in the bag with erag but discover perfomance and just did read at php net manual, google for greg name and address ( tons of email address, needle in haystack) .

Other point, Can one input field accept any foreign language or most of what languages?. Input stored in sql , retrieve, and echo in html. What steps to protect and issue for chinese(2bytes for chinese, japanese charaters)?

Tx again and hope this puzzle is not too complicated. Surprise I could not find these common pattern checks. Defining Object method in php error checking. One liners pattern and length matching, generalized. That is why I am force to solve this puzzle.

NogDog

Personally, rather than hoping I guess all the possibilities of how people might spell their names, I'd prefer to just display a confirmation page for them to double-check their spelling (along with validating that at least something was entered). But, if you must:

$nameRegex = '/^[a-z][-\'a-z]+[a-z]$/i';

If you want to limit it to 15 characters total:

$nameRegex = '/^[a-z][-\'a-z]{0,13}[a-z]$/i';

Usage:

if(preg_match($nameRegex, $name))
{
   // valid name input
}

Note however that the above will exclude a lot of non-English/American names that use letters with various accents. Again, it begs the question as to how restrictive you really need to be, and how much you can assume that a user knows how to spell his/her name.

scrtadmr8

Hi Nogdog,

Tx for your reply and refresh on the /i and php counts from zero. Also, I like (0,13) and must end in a-z. It a better job and tx for the lesson. I did a lot of reading prior to posting and difficulty to get good article. Php.net and 30 minute tutorial were a few decent tutorial.

Just give them a confrimation page and if they do not correct, I guess package sent to mars or cyberspace. In my application, search by surname. Content is important and finding content is also important. Having thousands of records that no one access can slow application 10 fold with records that no one uses. Also, sql injection is another. So, avoid Garbage In, Gabage Out will retain viewers and mischief. Program 101 data entry validity is important for cross site scripting.

Ok, how do I provide your flexibility and avoid cross site, data overflow and sql injection? :o If I go for name and address accented charaters not accepted. What does the phpbuilder viewer community think? Compromise, do not allow <>, trim () and check it is not null/empt (isset), min and max type check (sql field length is 5 so check under 6 char and reject or just take 5 character). If I use last solution, what other characters should I not allow.

😕 In one input field, any language accepted. Input sent to db, no query by that field, and echo 'htmlspecialchar($in_field). $in_field can have any text. Single quote avoid exec instr parse - just display. Are there any concern that I should be aware about? Would retiieval displayed original entry? Never work with foreign language input. ANy comment appreciated.😕

Tx in advance for your response and viewing.