TalkPHP - Regular Expressions

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Regular Expressions

I'm having trouble with regular expressions. I think I have done something wrong within them since they're accepting the data even if they don't match the pattern.

$pattern = '/^[0-9]{3}$/'; suppose to match 000
$pattern = '/^[0-9]{3}\-[0-9]{3}\-[0-9]{3}$/'; suppose to match 000-000-00
$pattern = '/^[0-9]{5}$/'; suppose to match 00000
$pattern = '/^www\.[a-zA-Z0-9\-]+\.([a-zA-Z\.]{2,4})$/'; - suppose to match www.domain.ext.(w/e)

Help :(

Can you put these patterns into context? It might be more a problem with how you're using them than than the patterns themselves.

Can you elaborate your requirements?

I think Salathe was trying to ask how you were trying to use these patterns, as some of them seem to be fine. Here's a quick script I wrote to test each pattern:

PHP Code:


		
			

<?php

// Test Expression 1

$szTest        = '000';

// Works fine
$szPattern    = '/^[0-9]{3}$/';

if (preg_match($szPattern, $szTest))
{
    echo "Match 1 ok";
}

// Test Expression 2

$szTest        = '000-000-00';

// Minor error, see below
$szPattern    = '/^[0-9]{3}\-[0-9]{3}\-[0-9]{3}}$/';

// Mine
// Minor change, you had the last clause of the pattern
// looking for 3 numbers, not 2
$szPattern    = '/^[0-9]{3}-[0-9]{3}-[0-9]{2}$/';

if (preg_match($szPattern, $szTest))
{
    echo "Match 2 ok";
}

// Test Expression 3

$szTest        = '00000';

// No change required, works fine
$szPattern    = '/^[0-9]{5}$/';

if (preg_match($szPattern, $szTest))
{
    echo "Match 3 ok";
}

// Test Expression 4

$szTest        = 'www.talkphp.com';

// Few changes required, see below
$szPattern    = '/^www\.[a-zA-Z0-9\-]+\.([a-zA-Z\.]{2,4})$/';

// The main problem here is:
// 1) the domain part of the URL is expecting a dot .
// 2) we had an extra close parentheisis character
$szPattern    = '/^www\.[a-zA-Z0-9\-]+\.[a-zA-Z]{2,4}$/';

if (preg_match($szPattern, $szTest))
{
    echo "Match 4 ok";
}

?>

Don't forget the .org.uk extension which is 7 :)

Example use:

PHP Code:


		
			
        /*
         * Summary:     Validates the US zip code format(00000)
         * Parameters:  Field name | Error message
         * Return:      Returns true if field matches the US zip code format
        *               Returns false is field doesn't match the US zip code format
         */
    
        function isUSZipCode($field, $msg)
        {
            $value = $this->getValue($field);
            $pattern = '/^[0-9]{5}$/';
            if(preg_match($pattern, $value))
            {
                return true;
            }
            else
            {
                $this->aErrorList[] = array('field' => $field, 'value' => $value, 'error' => $errormsg);
                return false;
            }
        }

I guess my patterns are right but I still can't think why they are accepting the data. :(

I've had to shrink down the function a lot as it's getting values from your class. This works fine for me though which is a skeleton adaptation of your function:

PHP Code:


		
			
function isUSZipCode($iZip)
{
    if(preg_match('/^[0-9]{5}$/', $iZip))
    {
        return true;
    }
    
    return false;
}

var_dump(isUSZipCode(50266));

I would hazard a guess that $this->getValue($field); is returning a value that is not a zip code - var_dump($field); it and see.