Detect if Url

I need to put a filter that will detect if a user submits a name and not a URL in place.

I guess I could check if there are slashes and/or @ in the $_POST['name'] but is there a better way to do it?

I wanted to do something like:

if (ctype_alpha($name)) {
 ok...
} else {

 bad name ...
}

but it'll catch names with apostrophes, like O'Brien...

Any suggestions?

You could use [man]preg_match/man, e.g.:

if(preg_match('/^[a-zA-Z\']+$/', $name))

Just be sure to carefully think out what characters will be allowed. For instance, are hyphenated names to be allowed?

I guess I was working in the same direction. I was trying but failed this:
if(eregi('[^a-zA-Z\']', $name))

It appears it's easier to block if it includes particular characters then allow with certain?...

It appears it's easier to block if it includes particular characters then allow with certain?...

No, because it is harder to think of what's not in a set than what's in a finite set.