[RESOLVED] make a variable safe for a URL

[jasondavis]

on my site users have a profile, I am going to use mod rewrite to let them save into the database a username that will link to the profile id

example

site.com/jasondavis

will redirect to there profile

site.com/23

so the part I need help with is when I let them pick a URL name.

I will call the variable they submit

$urlname

so how can I make sure $urlname has no spaces or characters that would not be good in the browser address bar?

[laserlight]

You could allow spaces and various characters and then just use [man]rawurlencode/man or [man]urlencode/man.

[jasondavis]

laserlight wrote:

You could allow spaces and various characters and then just use [man]rawurlencode/man or [man]urlencode/man.

Is there a built in php function to just remove all these though so I dont end up with things like

%20%40%2B

[laserlight]

jasondavis wrote:

Is there a built in php function to just remove all these though so I dont end up with things like

%20%40%2B

Well, you will not be displaying that to the user as it will only be used for the link.

If you insist, instead of removing, validate (e.g., with [man]preg_match[/man]) and then ask the user to enter a new username based on your requirements (e.g., alphanumeric with underscores and/or dashes).

[NogDog]

If it would be acceptable to limit them to letters, numbers, and/or underscores, then you could use:

if(preg_match('/\W/', $urlName))
{
   // invalid url name
}

("\W" is a "non-word character" in a PCRE regular expression.)

[jasondavis]

great thanks